Gundam SEED: Logos' Last Stand
by ExArchmagus
Summary: Continuation following Gundam Seed: Humanity's Fate: Power of ORB. What happened after the Battle of Requiem, that ended the war? Peace has been achieved, but for how long? Will those who managed to slink through the cracks of the Second War appear again to shatter the world into chaos again?
1. Phase 1: Three Years Later

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Gundam Seed Destiny

'Content' = thought

"Content" = speech

* * *

Alright everyone, this is ExArchmagus and now I am back to present you with the follow-up to my GSD re-write _Gundam Seed: Humanity's Fate: Power of ORB_. Before we kick things off though I want to lay down some notes that I edited in and put in _Phase 1: Inside Job _of the fixed plot... however I hope that if you're reading this you've already read _Gundam Seed: Humanity's Fate_ and _Power of ORB _(check profile), so knowing how I am is not a difficult task. Due to the fact that I did not add in an epilogue to Power of ORB (this fic serves as that, so no the ending was not rushed... this is what happens later tyvm), I will address the reviews I received for that chapter here and now... or at least the ones that I find it necessary to review.

_Addressing Arthogawa_: Thank you for the review. I knew that making Shinn fight Rey was something I had to do from the get go but mixing Kira vs. Rau into it was something I just had to add. It's symbolic of how the two defended the world from the madness of Al Da Flaga, and how Shinn laid him to rest, permanently. In regards to Stella vs. Lunamaria... you actually made me go back to my profile and rip out a large section of it and remake it, considering I have 'modified' my views on what pilot goes where and how their victory is achieved. You also said "That makes me wonder what you'll do with Athrun in the movie and subsequent fic." and I'm simply going to reply with 'You assume too much'. No, he's not dead, not completely irrelevant, and is not going to be a completely devoted villain in this fic like he was in PoO... but let's just say I have something planned for him and Kira... **nobody make any guesses because you might guess right and spoil it please! **Also, I noticed your review for _Price of Paradise,_ and I'll admit right now I've gotten a few ideas for things to do with that fic should I continue it, and I probably will. With that I found you're idea of how to continue on from it to be my favorite, although understand when I do eventually continue it, that fic will be a KxCxS M rated fic.

That's all the ExRambling for now, so now it's time for the actual fic!

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Aftermath of the Second Bloody Valentine War:

Over three years have past since the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, which ended with the Battle of Requiem. Shortly after the war ended with the death of PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal, Princess Cagalli Yula Attha, Commander and Chief of the combined ORB Union and Eurasian Federation forces allowed the governments of both the PLANTs and Atlantic Federation to quickly 'rebuild' their governments and get themselves together before negotiating a treaty to signify the end of the conflict. This treaty was named after the place it was signed on and became known as the _Treaty of Messiah_, and outlined several key factors:

**1.** The use of Neutron Jammers and Neutron Jammer Cancelers was strictly and completely forbidden from all use across the entire Earth sphere with the sole exception of nuclear power plants or very specific, non-militarized activities.

**2.** The construction of nuclear fusion reactors for mobile suits was outlawed unless the suit already existed.

**3.** Mirage Colloid was completely banned once again. Any entity caught constructing this technology was to face heavy fines proportional to what would financially harm it.

**4.** All nations were strictly prohibited from creating mobile suits or mobile armors with the use of Positron Deflector shields and Geschmeidig Panzer arrays.

**5.** All nations were strictly prohibited from creating new unique mobile suits, or _gundams, _but were not restricted from repairing damaged machines. The only exception to this was the one remaining Zaft gundam that survived the Battle of Requiem: The ZGMF-X19S Crusader, which was to be scrapped due to having had taken damage beyond repair, but not having been destroyed completely. However the four ORB-0x gundams were to be repaired by their mother nation.

**6.** In order to discourage another incident like the theft at Heliopolis during the First Bloody Valentine War or the Armory One incident that took place before the Second Bloody Valentine War broke out, all nations were to, to some extents, share mobile suit information and technology with each other. One major exception to this was the data used in the creation of the four ORB-0x gundams, specifically the SEEDpathy blueprints. That was to be held by the ORB Union under strict lock and keep, and not to be used unless another war broke out sometime in the future.

**7.** All nations were to downsize their military's to some extents.

**8.** A group of elite soldiers, battleships, and mobile suits, was to be made and supported by all major nations of the world with significant military power. These nations include the ORB Union, the PLANTs, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation. This group was to be known as PEACE, or **P**rotection of **E**arth **A**utonomous **C**ombat **E**ntity, and it's leader would be Captain Talia Gladys of the LHM-BB01 Minerva. This group was meant to combat enemies of humanity, such as the now dead group known as Logos, and to prevent accidents like the theft at Armory One, from occurring, or at least from spreading and causing significant damage.

**9.** The location of the PEACE mobile suit ORB-02 Veneficus was to be known to all nations at all times, due to it's potential destructive nature.

**10.** The Requiem super weapon was not to suffer the fate of dismantlement. Rather, the weapon, and it's O'Neill type colonies would be preserved for potential use in case of an emergency. However in order to charge and fire the weapon the leaders of the four world nations that created PEACE would be assigned special keys to activate it in unison.

**11.** The organization known as Blue Cosmos was to be classified as a terrorist entity, stripped off all power and influence it had, and dismantled.

However the Treaty of Messiah did not include every change that would happen to the world during these next three years, nor their implications. While most nations took rather kindly to the changes that were made there were other things that shook the world, two to be precise.

First of all, the Destiny Plan. Originally created by Gilbert Durandal to 'end war forever' in the world, it was meant to be forced unto all of humanity and would radically change the world. However after his defeat the massive supercomputer stored in Messiah for determining a human being's role in the world by their genetic code was not destroyed, but put to good use. The ability to find out one's 'genetic aptitude test', as Shinn Asuka, Royal Consort to Princess Cagalli Yula Attha at the time would say, was first voluntarily introduced in the ORB Union but quickly spread to the rest of the world. Many people found great interest in what their genes had to tell them about themselves, while others rejected the very notion of this. However the vast majority of people who looked at their readout found that the job they would receive under Durandal's Destiny Plan was either what they would be doing comfortably, or something similar to what they were doing/good at, for the most part. A small minority however was disgusted by it's genetic readouts, either by sheer disagreement or for some other reason, however this demographic was small. As time passed on, people began to wonder if Durandal really was right, considering how many people did find even a smudge of happiness in placing significance on their genes, and that some people were better at some things than others _inherently._ Needless to say the concept of "Tabula Rasa" and the old phrase "All men are _created _equal" were now slowly but surely meeting their expiry dates.

The second thing to shake the world was the revealing of the SEED mode factor genes to the world. Originally this data had been kept secret and researched by the ORB Union alone but after some of it was stolen by Zaft during the Second Bloody Valentine War it became a heated issue, for Durandal had ordered several of his most trusted officials back in the PLANTs to reveal this information to the world should Messiah fall and see how the world reacts to it. The effect, at first, was frightening. Large groups of people went to go see if they had these genes and those who did tried to make use of them via robbing banks and breaking laws in general while attempting to activate and use their 'powers' to aid them at first. This lasted for little over a week at most. Finding another potential crisis on their hands the leaders of the world decided that the method of modifying a fetus before birth to give it SEED mode genes, a process much like the procedure used to change a natural into a first generation coordinator, was outlawed completely. In addition to this stricter punishments were put in place for those who broke laws using their powers and were caught in the act. As a result of this, the SEED mode issue was greatly extinguished, however it was not utterly dead, and several great minds started making predictions that the world might face a conflict similar to the one that took place over coordinators and naturals in the future.

* * *

Now, the world rests in a relative peace. However there is a dark force that lay in the shadows, licking it's wounds from the last conflict and preparing to make one final strike at humanity. The question at hand is simple: Will this force be successful, or will the defenders of the world stop them in their tracks?

_**Gundam SEED: Logos' Last Stand**_

July 2nd, Cosmic Era 77:

Floating in space, all on it's own, is what appears to be a large part of an O'Neill type colony. The massive hollow cylinder rests in the nothingness of space, surrounded by blackness... blackness that is quickly shattered.

A large ray of green and yellow energy fly's towards the colony at maximum speed, going into one of it's ends and coming out the other, but as this happens the beam is bent. Zooming out it is revealed that this colony was a set of several relay stations set in a specific pattern, and that after the laser beam passed through one of them it made it's way towards the next, being bent again as it did, and in the direction of the earth, although it's trajectory is off, indicating that it will fly by the green and blue planet. Another piece of a colony rests in space on it's own, drifting. However this massive structure was different. Unlike the O'Neill colony, which was a cylindrical shape, this one was a massive disk, with several spike coming out of it's edges and facing upwards. This bottom half of a PLANT was headed for Earth on a collision course, but it would not prevail in it's quest to collide with the planet. As the bright yellow and verdant ray of energy approaches the colony piece, the structure is split right down the middle by the power of the beam, breaking it in two as the Requiem shot continues onwards, fading as it did... it's task complete.

"Shattering operation: Stage One complete." A voice echoed throughout the space near the broken disk as the view shifts to behind the dead PLANT, showing several battleships and mobile suits gathered behind it.

"Shattering operation: Initiating Stage Two." Another voice, one of a male, is heard on the frequencies as the camera closes in far enough to show just what mobile suits and ships are present nearby. Three refit Agamemnon-class Earth Forces carriers, three Nazca-class destroyers, two black and blue Izumo-class warships form the bulk of the fleet, along with the largest and most powerful vessel of them all: The Minerva. As for mobile suits, several bulky machines, resembling the ZGMF-XX09T DOM Troopers occupy the area, but these suits look slightly different. Instead of taking on a black and purple color scheme, they are black and dark blue. In addition to this, they also have two beam sabers on their backpacks as opposed to one, and larger, more powerful thrusters on their skirts and legs. There also appears to be several Windams gathered around the fleet, and like the DOMs, these have a black and dark blue color scheme, larger thrusters, beam shield generators on their forearms, and unlike normal Jet Windams, these have a backpack that is strikingly similar to the ZGMF-X56S Impulse's Force Silhouette. Lastly, several MVF-A53B Aishas also populate the field, also possessing black and dark blue color schemes. However these mass production models are not the real eye catchers, not by a long shot. The main attraction of this area are the four gundams: The Blu Duel, Strike Noir, ORB-03 Demoness, and the ORB-02 Immortalis Veneficus, which was currently charging it's Apocalypse Laser, the most powerful weapon on any mobile suit to date.

"Shattering operation: Stage Two... firing!" The voice of what sounded like Kira Yamato echoed across the cockpits of all suits as a large beam of purple and blue energy erupted from the Veneficus, cruising towards the already split colony and making contact with each of it's two halves, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter and breaking it into four pieces, many small and insignificant fragments also being forced away from the colony. As the large beam of energy faded the black and blue gundam with an icy blue inner frame pulled it's two rifles out of it's chest, broke them apart and stored them on it's side skirts as it's eight WASPS docked onto it's black metal wings, the energy particles coming out of them glowing a distinct blue as the suit turned around and headed towards the Minerva, the silver winged gundam on the field following it.

"Aprilius Three has been deflected away from Earth and is no longer a threat. All mobile suits are to return to their vessels immediately." The distinct and commanding voice of Captain Talia Gladys was heard in the cockpits of all the machines as they began to return to their vessels.

"Well that was boring. Just wait out there and let Kira sit there..." Yzak Joule said in a slightly grumpy voice as the four gundams flew towards the Minerva's it's catapult doors open.

"Ooh... it's nice to see that giant ball of energy charge up... you know you'll be sitting there waiting and them BAM!" Auel Neider raised his voice in excitement as the Strike Noir did a corkscrew in the air simultaneously.

"Ouch... Auel don't yet like that. We don't need to have our damn eardrums broken thank you! They can't just be repaired and fixed easily like a part of a machine!" Stella roared, the sigh of a certain Ultimate Coordinator being heard in the background. "Aww... is Kira alright?" She asked.

"Yeah yeah... all in a day's work. At least we know that thing isn't going to harm anyone now..." Kira said lightly before breathing in and out. "Shinn and Cagalli will be coming back from the Moon soon. Won't take them long to get back here. I think I'll rest until then. Auel may have a fun time watching the 'giant ball of energy' charge up but it's a mental drain on me..." The camera cuts to Kira's cockpit to show his SEED mode eyes close and open again, changing into those of a normal person's, the Veneficus' diamond horn shaped v-fin splitting apart into two half's as it's eyes changed from purple to white, the suit entering the Minerva's starboard hanger seconds later and landing on the floor with the dexterity and precision of an excellent ace pilot.

* * *

Space fortress Messiah:

Due to the damages that the Daedalus base received in the last war, due to the fact that the damage Messiah had received was limited to it's offensive and defensive systems, the asteroid had been, for lack of better word, integrated into the Lunar Base and now stood as part of it, it's bottom half severed and it's larger half tied into one of the craters near Daedalus. The former Zaft fortress now stood as part of the base, and the location where the Requiem control center was.

In the control room where Shinn Asuka killed Gilbert Durandal over three years ago, and standing on the platform where the Chairman's seat was, stood a crowd of people before a large set of control panels, looking out onto the window that lead out of the base, except now there was a large array of holographic television screens there.

The camera cuts to show a pair of hands next to each other, one right and one left. On the left hand's ring finger is a somewhat thick metallic band, which looked to be made of gold, and had a concave design running town it's middle, with several diamonds inside of it. On the right hand's ring finger is a similar band, also gold, also studded with small diamonds, but in a convex fashion, as if these two rings were meant to 'interlock' together like a set of cogs. The camera slowly rises upwards to reveal the heads of the figures wearing these rings. The one wearing the concave one is the now five foot, seven inches tall Lioness of the ORB Union, Cagalli Yula Attha, wearing her typical ORB military uniform with a gold-trimmed, yellow rank squared lapel with a tassel running down her front from her right shoulder and coming back up to connect with a green gem on her chest. From the looks of it the Lioness hadn't changed much over the years besides the blatant... to put it simply, signs of maturity present in her face and visible growth. Next to her and wearing the convex band is Shinn _Urun __Attha_, a man of around five foot ten and just under sixty-five kilograms, wearing what also appeared to be the same uniform as Cagalli, but modified somewhat. Unlike Cagalli's uniform, Shinn's had red trim on it's lapel and tassel, the tassel came from the left shoulder down to the chest, and the gem there was dark orange, not green. As for Shinn himself, he looked as if he had matured visibly over the years to some extents, and his hair wasn't as long as it was in the Second War, but trimmed back slightly, so that his bangs no longer completely came down in front of his yes, but rather just above their irises.

Standing around them are several other figures of significance, each of them wearing a high ranking military or political suit of some nation. At the same time the screen in front of all these people displays an image of Aprilius Three broken up into four quarters, and at the same time several key cards pop up from the control panel in front of each significant figure. Mumbling to themselves, the high ranking personal, including Cagalli, walk towards and grab one of the cards each, pulling them out and placing it on their personal.

"Requiem firing keys removed. Locking down system... Requiem will no longer be able to operate and charge until the keys are returned." The automated voice of a women spoke, echoing through the chamber as one of the people there began to speak out loud. "Status update: ORB-02 Veneficus has arrived inside the hanger of the LHM-BB01 Minerva." The computer added.

"So... did PEACE find any information on what happened to throw that chunk of dead rock at Earth? Or the Zaft forces that originally detected it even?" A man who looked to be in his early forties that was well over six feet tall, visibly built, with very short brown hair and blue eyes, a goatee, and an Earth Forces Uniform asked, his head tilted up towards the image of the PLANT as the other figures standing around turned their attention towards him.

"I can confirm that the team sent out to investigate the colony before PEACE arrived did not find anything suspicious going on with it. Our scientists have told us that the reason Aprilius Three failed to establish a stable orbit with the rest of the colonies was due to a collision with a large asteroid in the debris belt, which knocked it off course." A women who looked to be older than the man and slightly taller than Cagalli, with dark blonde hair in a ponytail, dark brown eyes, who was wearing a blue PLANT politician's jacket spoke in response as the man turned to face her.

"Ah, I see. An asteroid..." The man responded, his tone reflecting both a sense of relaxation, and a small hint of vexation as the Prince Consort of the ORB Union decided he had something to add.

"Well... all I can say is that it was a good idea to keep this thing up and running just in case a situation like this arose. Now... it's been dealt with, and quiet handily at that." Shinn spoke.

"Hmm... I must applaud you for your excellent observation but I must ask if it is still necessary... for our nations to assemble together to fire this weapon when your PEACE force is out there all the time and perfectly capable of handling the situation on it's own?" The man asked, turning towards Shinn as the younger and shorter figure turned towards him, the two locking eyes and staring into each other with a hint of anger.

"My 'PEACE' force? It's a group that is autonomous, yet answers to all involved nations, not just ORB. You all should know this by now, considering how important you must be to posses the key you do." Shinn spoke.  
"Oh, I do realize that fully well... it's just... kind of unfair how the allegiance of the Minerva, as well as the gundams of PEACE, including the 'almighty' Freedom Mk.2 is to the ORB Union above all else... in case... for some reason..." The tall and buffed man said as the rest of the important figures in the room gasped out loud and Shinn tried to step forward, but Cagalli stopped him with her hand and pushed him back, the Ace of Aces growling.

"Are you suggesting... conflict in the future? After all that we've done to try to prevent it?" Cagalli said in a serious and stern tone, indicating that she wasn't messing around.

"No... no... it's just... something I'd like to point out." The Alliance Officer gave off a slight smile.

"Understood." Cagalli chilled slightly. "You must realize that there's nothing to fear. Yes the Minerva may be loyal to me but my loyalty right now, after experiencing this world, is to preventing another disaster. Surely you realize that, and surely you understand that what you just said was rather inappropriate." Cagalli barked lightly as the other members remained silent but observed her, the tall man stepping back as his body seemed to release stress a bit.

"I'm terribly sorry, Chief Representative. Perhaps it's just my paranoid nature after witnessing two major wars and being on the front lines of everything. Slight PTSD causing me to see faults in everything. I mean you no insult. You speak wise words for a young girl." He said, giving off what appeared to be a genuinely happy smile as he did. "Well the, our work is done. We should all be heading back to our respective locations now... I see no business to dally here any longer, unless of course you wish to destroy the rest of the colonies floating around the debris belt in case another asteroid crashes into one of them..." The man said as he began to step off of the platform and walk away, several other Earth Forces officer with him.

"No thank you..." Cagalli responded as she and Shinn seemed to 'settle' in a way. "I guess we'd better be on our way too." Cagalli said as the two of them began to walk off of the platform with the Zaft Officers as well.

* * *

Three minutes later, just outside of the Messiah mobile suit change room:

The Chief Representative of the ORB Union as well as her significant other had just walked out of the room, wearing their usual ORB pilot's suits that they would use when in their machines. As the two of them walked towards the mobile suit hanger deck they found themselves approached by the other women who had spoken out in the control room; the one wearing the blue PLANT uniform.

"Lady Cagalli... ah, there you are." The women said, her dark blonde ponytail lifting slightly off of her back and falling back down as she did.

"Chairwomen Leia Mills... shouldn't you be on your way to the PLANTs now? The ship port entrance is that way." Cagalli said, pointing down one of Messiah's other corridors as the women walked up to the two of them, several other high ranking PLANT officials behind her.

"Ah, I was... my ship isn't scheduled to depart for another fifteen minutes though, but after hearing about how you two are going to get back to the Minerva... I have to wonder... using your own mobile suits all by yourselves? Isn't that a little odd. Are you sure you don't want a ride? It would be a great chance to talk about the world, leader to leader." The women asked in a tone of voice that indicated that she was very much confused by Shinn and Cagalli's transport choice.

"It's appreciated... but I'll have to pass on your offer, this time. We'll make it back by ourselves... no big deal either." Cagalli replied, shrugging her shoulders slightly as she held her helmet in her hands, with Shinn holding his by the tip of his right fingers.

"Al... alright then, if you insist." Leia responded as Shinn turned to her.

"Hey, do you have any idea who that... jackass was? I mean, saying something abysmally stupid like that in front of all those people? Reminds me of...ow..." Shinn said as Cagalli shouldered him slightly.

"The first time we ever talked to each other all those years ago..." The Lioness turned her head towards the Chairwomen. "Still, a man of his age... what's up?" Cagalli asked.

"Oh, I know who he is. I had a chat with him a while before everything went down. He's Commander Francois Adrian, and he's grumpy from what I get from him. Chancellor Kedorin assigned him to bring Eurasia's key up to space. Used to be an officer at Heaven's Base and was close to it's old Commander who died that day during the Second War. I'm guessing he's just bitter after what happened that day and wanted to get a rise out of you, knowing that he can." Leia responded as Shinn rolled his eyes.

"I know better now not to just freak out over something like that. Damn..." Shinn mumbled.

"Still, if the two of you are leaving and headed for the PEACE fleet, I'd better let you go. I have to agree though with how our nations dealt with this crisis... far preferable to the way it happened in the past... hopefully we never have to relive a tragedy like that again..." She lowered her head.

"I understand, and I feel the same way." Cagalli shook her head and raised her pilot's helmet up to where her breasts were as the two of them turned around and began to walk away.

"Oh, and one more thing, say hello to Ezalia Joule for me when you get back. I used to work under her in the Martius government since before even the First War broke out... I know her, and she's an old friend." Leia explained, turning around and walking towards the other Zaft officials, where seemed to be beckoning for her to return..

"Will do." Cagalli responded as she and Shinn continued down the corridor, headed for their machines.

"Old friend? Does that mean she's..." Shinn tried to say lightly as the two put enough distance between themselves and Leia not to be heard.

"No, she's rather tolerant. In fact out of all the potential candidates for the Supreme Council Leader that were present in the last Federal Election I prefer her other any of the others." Cagalli informed as the two of them continued, taking a left down the hall as they did.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later, in space:

The two mobile suits, the ORB-01 Sovereign and ORB-04 Judicator were flying through the sparkled blackness of outer space, moving away from the Moon at high speeds, the darker machine's wings still folded in to allow the golden one to keep up.

"We just left the Moon's radar range." Shinn informed, checking the Judicator's radar screen, the golden gundam flying next to him on his left.

"Alright then." Cagalli responded, grinning as she did. "You better watch out." She smiled.

"Ugh... Cagalli... what?" Shinn asked, his eyes widening somewhat, the golden mobile suit altering it's course to the left and then quickly ascending and performing a back flip before making several corkscrews. "Hey! What are you doing?" Shinn raised his voice somewhat in confusion as his eyebrows lowered into a slightly pissed off position.

"Just... having a good time..." Cagalli said in a light and relaxed, her suit making moves that seemed to be a cross between dancing in zero gravity and generally evading enemy weapon fire... but there were no enemies nearby at all, not even another mobile suit besides the two of them for quite some ways.

"Having a good time? Cagalli what's gotten into you?" Shinn raged, his brain trying to figure out why Cagalli was doing what she was doing, but failing to do so, miserably.

"Shut up and join me. We've still got a way to go before we get back to the Minerva, so we might as well enjoy ourselves." She demanded, flying circles around the now slowed Judicator gundam. "I said now!" She commanded as Shinn groaned, flying upwards and near her machine, keeping up with it.

"By the way you're acting we're not going to even make it to the Minerva on time!" Shinn warned as Cagalli quickly took a dive and he followed, the golden suit then coming out of it's maneuver and ascending while twisting to it's right, passing in front of the sun as Shinn was forced to look away from it due to the reflection of the gold armor and the sun itself.

"So what? Am I not allowed to..."

"No, but I'd rather not keep the others waiting. COME HERE!" Shinn raged, rushing at Cagalli head on and trying to grab her as she moved out of the way.

"Get me then. Catch me, Shinn, and then I'll stop having fun and come with you." Cagalli said, a slight hint of joy in her voice as Shinn slowed down somewhat and closed his eyes as Cagalli continued to 'have fun' in space. What she was doing was so weird and out of character and because of that he couldn't understand why she was doing it. She had to have a reason to, but he figured that would reveal itself in time.

"Alright fine then!" Shinn roared in a controlled fashion, the Judicator's large red and black wings unfolding and opening up, the three smaller metal wings inside the two sets of larger ones spreading out as the gundam activated it's "Velox Veredictum" system, two massive red wings of light jetting out from the suit a split second later as it quickly turned to go after Cagalli and she made efforts to move away, Shinn reaching out with his suit's right hand to get close to the machine with two large deactivated shields on it's arms. "Cagalli, stop this... nonsense!"

"No, you HAVE to catch me first!" The Goddess of Victory warned as the two suits chased each other around in circles somewhat, bending and turning in space for a couple of minutes until Shinn caught up to his lover and grabbed the hole inside one of the Sovereign's shields with it's right hand and pulled the golden armored machine in closer to it before nestling it in it's arms, the left arm going behind it's back as it held it in a pseudo-bridal style fashion, the Sovereign's large disk getting in the way somewhat and causing the Judicator to have to tilt the smaller machine inward towards itself as they continued onwards.

"Alright, that's enough of that." Shinn announced as the black and red machine did a sharp turn in the air and put it's engines to their maximum outside of SEED mode, setting course away from the Moon and towards where the Requiem shot had hit Aprilius Three before, although closer to Earth then the shot was. "Hopefully we don't miss our rendezvous due to your nonsense."

"IT WAS NOT NONSENSE! Would you give me a break!" Cagalli groaned, trying to break free of Shinn's suit as he held her tight, the Judicator's head tilting down and to it's left at the Sovereign's.

"Oh yes it was... what the hell were you doing and why?"

"Having 'fun' in my suit... why? Because I wanted to, that's why!" Cagalli raged.

"Yeah, sure, whatever..." Shinn rolled his eyes inside his cockpit. "If you want I'll bloody put you down now if you promise to fly back with me."

"No, you're going to carry me back from here on end for, period."

"Wha..."

"END OF IT!" Cagalli yelled.

"OH YEAH?"

"YEAH!"

"Grr..." The black haired coordinator groaned.

"Yeah, my way buddy."

"We'll see once we get back to the ship." Shinn warned as the two suits continued to fly in space, the wings of the Judicator still emitting the bright red energy particles, the two of them remaining silent, having nothing more to say for a couple minutes after their little yelling match, until Cagalli spoke.

"You know... Shinn..." Cagalli said in a lower and calmer voice from her cockpit, having had taken off her helmet and unzipped her flight suit somewhat as he machine continued to be carried.

"What?" Shinn asked in an annoyed tone, his eyes still in a slightly pissed of state as he gripped the controls of his machine.

"I love you, you know that?" Cagalli asked as Shinn's eyes widened somewhat, the suits flying for a couple more seconds, the area completely devoid of sound besides the slight white noise their suits would make. "Shinn? SHINN?" Cagalli asked as the Judicator quickly performed a corkscrew to it's right and swerved around from left to right a little bit, Cagalli shaking in her chair as she did. "Whoa..." She settled only to see that the head of the ORB-04 machine was up closer to the Sovereign's, staring right at it with it's pure white eyes and blue v-fin.

"Of course I know you love me, Cagalli..." Shinn said as the two machines heads got closer together and bumped slightly, the Sovereign's head jewel colliding slowly with the Judicator's face mask. "And I love you too..." Shinn said in a calm and sweeter tone as Cagalli cracked a slight smile, and Shinn did the same seconds later, the two machines headed in Earth's general direction, the eyes of the Lioness slowly closing over time as she drifted into sleep in the arms of her husband's machine.

* * *

Couple hours later, in very high orbit around Earth:

The starboard catapult door of the Minerva swung open as the Judicator let go of the Sovereign and allowed it to enter the ship, following along seconds later.

"Back on board the old Minerva as always..." Shinn spoke, the volume of his voice a whisper as the catapult closed behind him and he set his machine down on the floor of the ship and walked towards one of the shoulder docking clamps, his machine resting in one of them as he took off his custom ORB pilot's helmet and shook his head left and right to air it out, the control panel of the Judicator lifting away from his lap as he pressed a button on the arm rests to open the cockpit door, unbuckling himself before finally leaving his suit. At the same time the Ace of Aces felt the Minerva start it's engines and change it's course somewhat, accelerating quickly as it did.

"You guys were late, you know that?" Auel Neider said in a joking tone, floating in the hanger bay a little bit away from the suits with his hands on his hips, his body language an expression of his snarky attitude and need to tell the two lovers how they were tardy. Although it had been three years the now 'cured' Extended didn't really change over time, besides simply growing a little as he aged. No, the light blue haired pilot still kept his same hairstyle and looks as always. The current pilot of the _MBF-10+P30QC Strike Noir_ was wearing what appeared to be a modified hybrid of the uniforms that each faction wore. While the base design hinted at a standard ORB uniform, this suit had black instead of white and a darker shade of blue for trim and while it still had what appeared to be modified ranking badges of the ORB military in the same location, with his being the equivalent of an Ensign's. In addition to this, the uniform also featured the lapel of the island nation's suits, while the shoulders were blatantly taken from Zaft's red uniform, which had a symbol displaying the Earth, the Moon, and one PLANT colony on it's shoulder, as well the Zaft style belt, and the collar and sleeves of an Earth Forces uniform. This was the standard PEACE uniform and everyone on the Minerva seemed to be wearing this type of outfit unless they were using a pilot's suit or an engineer. Shinn and Cagalli however would be using their ORB Uniforms when they took off their pilots suits however.

"Yeah, well that's what happens when you're machine is carrying another object for ninety percent of the trip because she can't..." Shinn tried to say.

"Oh shut up, Shinn!" Cagalli raised her voice as she floated around the Minerva's hanger bay. Her voice was one of vexation and despite her words Shinn realized there was no insult to be meant, and simply gave off a light smile as he headed towards the door out of the hanger bay.

"I'm just kidding..." Shinn said as he followed her.

"I know, I know." A hint of joy seemed to be present in the tone of the Sovereign's pilot.

"Yeah, well I'm not. Captain Gladys was wondering where you guys were and told me to go get you." Auel said as the three of them landed the deck on the left side of the hanger bay. "She wants to see you on the bridge right now." He added in a serious tone, which caused Cagalli to raise an eyebrow, and Shinn to exchange his expression for one that was more perplexed. It was very rare for Auel to say something with as much severity as he just did, and when he did express concern for something, it was often a matter that could not be ignored, and both Cagalli and her consort knew this.

"Alright then. Lets see what's up." Cagalli replied in a normal tone as the three of them left the hanger bay.

Minerva bridge, two minutes later:

"Captain Gladys, you wanted to see us?" Shinn asked as he and Cagalli walked onto the ship's normal white bridge, the short blonde haired women sitting in her Captain's seat getting up and out of it before turning around and floating towards them and the digital map at the back of the vessel's bridge.

"Yes, I do. There's something you should know..." Talia said lightly as she rise from her seat and turned around, landing on the floor to the opposite side of the map as the Princess, who's eyes widened slightly as she did, wondering what the hell was the matter.

"Did we not successfully deflect Aprilius Three? Is that the case?" Cagalli asked, leaning forward and speaking in a serious tone as Talia shook her head negatively.

"No... no... it's got nothing to do with Aprilius Three but we do have to make a course change on our way back to ORB." Captain Talia Gladys informed, pressing several buttons on the console in front of her to display an image of the Pacific Ocean.

"Course change?" Shinn questioned as the map loaded, displaying the islands of the ORB Union in addition to what appeared to be a large circular cloud with a hole in the center of it; or to put it in simpler terms, a tropical storm.

"Typhoon Emiron, a category five..." Talia gritted her teeth shortly after revealing this information.

"I thought Emiron was a category four and that it wasn't headed for ORB, or did it change it's course?" Cagalli asked, looking at the map and staring at the storm cloud which needed to be, at the very least, one thousand kilometers in diameter.

"It shifted course and was upgraded in strength... isn't that exciting?" Talia asked in a sarcastic tone, clearly angry with this development.

"So we're going to alter our course so we don't descend into the atmosphere right on top of it. Am I right, Captain?" Shinn asked, looking up at the Captain.

"Yes, we would have been able to descend to ORB and dock the ship right before it hits Ono'goro... but you guys arrived off of schedule." Talia explained, pausing for a second. "I mean we could potentially try to land the ship somewhere close by but that's not really a risk I'd like to take all things considered."

"We're more likely to be thrown around like a rag doll if we try to fly in that thing!" Shinn warned.

"Yeah, well if that's the case then I'm sorry for taking too much time then." Cagalli apologized.

"It's a non-issue, all it means is that you'll be staying the night aboard the ship and we'll make our descent first thing in the morning. I suggest you get some sleep in the meantime." Talia suggested as Cagalli continued to look at the map for a few seconds until Shinn placed his left hand on her shoulder.

"Cagalli?" The red eyed coordinator asked as the golden haired girl stood straight up and turned to look at her partner. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm worried about ORB right now. If that thing really is a category five then it's going to do a lot of damage one way or another. I just hope that the ministers get their act into gear and make sure everyone's safe and don't fool around. Personally I'd rather be there right now to make sure things get done properly and in time but... I guess not." She explained, letting out a slightly defeated sigh at the end of her speech as Shinn put his left arm around her and pulled her into him somewhat.

"It'll be alright, Cagalli. I'm sure they have everything under control." Shinn tried to comfort his wife.

"We received a message from Lady Joule just over an hour ago. ORB's preparing for the worst with this and they're making efforts to get everyone to shelters. She wanted me to tell you that." Talia continued as Cagalli let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, well if that's everything then we'll be heading down to the mess hall right now." Cagalli informed.

"'We'll'? Speak for yourself! I ain't that hungry right now." Shinn replied as Cagalli turned to look him in the eyes seriously.

"Yeah well too bad, mister!" She threatened before smiling at him. "Just kidding, got to bed and get some sleep if you want to. I'll be there in an hour or so." Cagalli gave him a peck before the two of them walked towards the elevator and Gladys crossed her arms and smiled, turning to face the front of the bridge seconds later.

"Order the rest of the fleet to break off into it's assigned groups and keep tabs on the fragments of Aprilius Three. We'll continue on towards ORB territory." The command from the vessel's Captain was quickly heard by all bridge officers and obeyed without question.

"Yes ma'am. Adjusting course three degrees to port." Malik responded, the camera cutting outside the Minerva to show the rest of the PEACE vessels break off into four groups and head in different directions. Two of the Nazca-class vessels were in one group, the remaining one was with an Agamemnon-class carrier and the last two groups consisted of an Izumo-class ship as well as an Earth Forces space carrier.

* * *

An hour later, in Shinn and Cagalli's bedroom:

The young red eyed coordinator lay quietly in his bed, his two hands above his head holding the cover of an average hardcover book open as he analyzed it's text, his senses completely fixed upon it and ignoring the world around him, some light bed clothes all that remain between his skin, the sheets under him, and the thin blanket above him, comforting his body. However his fixation with the book would soon be his downfall, for without notice, without warning or signal, a hand reached over the top of the book, grabbed it, quickly pulled it out of Shinn's hands and gently threw it aside.

"HEY! What the hell are you doing that for?" Shinn complained, the look in his eyes reflecting his anger as his wife straddled his torso and leaned over him, her knees bent and on the bed as she looked down upon him, the Goddess of Victory wearing little more than a light green nightgown that matched her dresses. "I was just getting to the good part! What gives?" Shinn asked as Cagalli smiled, leaning down and planting a kiss on his right cheek.

"Good part? Oh yeah, that's still to come, don't worry!" The blonde smiled as the male's rage laden visage quickly cracked a crude smile, his hands reaching up to firmly clamp onto the sides of her torso as he swung them around so that he was on top. "Whoa!" She yelped as he pulled the blanket that had been folded out from between them and took his right hand off of her torso to caress her left cheek, the two of them smiling as they did, Shinn's wedding band rubbing against Cagalli's beautifully toned flesh.

"You have a nice bite to eat?" Shinn asked, taking his hand off of her face and resting it down upon the sheets nearby.

"Yeah, I did." She said in an average tone, although there seemed to be something off about it as she tiled her head to her right somewhat, and Shinn caught on.

"What's bothering you? Is it Emiron?" Shinn asked as Cagalli gave off a 'so-so' expression and flipped them around so that they were each facing one another side by side. "Then..." She cut him off.

"Well, it has somewhat to do with that, but it's just... all of this couldn't have come at a worse time! Remember what happens in about a week?" Cagalli asked, raising an eyebrow as Shinn made movements with his pupils, thinking.

"Um... uh..." He thought as she put on an annoyed look. Clearly he should remember this, or maybe he was just tired. No, he wasn't tired enough to sleep but he did have a desire to just lie down for a bit after flying out for such a long and for the most part, boring journey. "Is it..." The Ace of Aces reached above them with his right hand and snapped his fingers, creating an audible crack-and-snap sound. "The Summit of World Nations?" Shinn asked, Cagalli smiling back at him.

"Finally you realize that! Well you get a kiss for guessing correctly." Cagalli giggled slightly as she closed in and laid her lips on his for a second. "Yeah, it's because we've got all these things on our plate all right now! Grr... First an Asteroid knocks a colony out of orbit, then we find out Ono'goro might be in ruins by the time we get back, and while I'm yelling at every lazy slob in parliament to get something done I've also got to attend a meeting with the rest of the world leaders in a week in the Republic of East Asia!" Cagalli growled.

"Yeah, that pisses me off too." He spoke, clearly ticked. "Play of fates... we got dealt a bad hand this time around." He gently directed his right palm so that is was over her abdomen. "Don't worry though... I doubt something like this will happen again, if not for a long time." He began to rub very gently.

'We still haven't told Kira or the others...' Cagalli thought to herself as she formulated a response to Shinn, feeling his careful caress. "Gah, I know it probably won't, but that still means we don't have to deal with it. We'd better make use of what leisure time we can on the ship until we get back... once we step foot in ORB... well let's just say we're going to have one hectic schedule for the following week. It's not just like we can look to the future but blindly walk the path to get there!" The Goddess of Victory explained as her husband nodded. "But..." She gripped his lower right arm with her left hand and smiled. "We'll go through this together and so it through to the end... and it'll be worth it, right?" She asked as he simply closed in and kissed her for a second before breaking away.

"Right.. that's our line... we work together..." Shinn said as he took his right hand off of her stomach and wrapped it around her body, doing the same with his left hand as she wrapped her own arms around his torso, making a faint 'um hmm' approval noise as she did, both of them closing their eyelids, the two engaging their lips together again as Shinn slowly but surely began to roll over Cagalli so that he was on top, the sweet sound of two lovers kissing, the breeze of gentle body movements, and the motion of fabric all that could be heard in the room.

* * *

Another hour and forty five minutes had passed, and the red and gray vessel known as the Minerva was floating in space on it's own, making very little movement as it's numerous nuclear pulse thrusters gave off a steady amount of energy. In the background behind the ship was the Earth itself, the very surface of the planet directly below the ship almost perpendicular to the vessel's direction. However, since it was nighttime, or to be more specific, half past midnight in ORB time, the surface of the Earth was practically pitch black. Although a small amount of light made it's way through, one could hardly see anything more than the pacific ocean itself, as well as what appeared to be the roof of a very large storm cloud, unless they looked at the right time...

"Course locked in. Geosynchronous orbit with the planet has been established, Captain." One of the few remaining officers still on board the Minerva's bridge, Malik Yardbirds informed as he sat in his up front station, the vessel's Captain standing just behind him and in front of her chair, her arms crossed as she looked out the Minerva's window down at Earth.

"Very good, now go get some rest. The night crew should be arriving any second now." Talia ordered as she quickly turned her head to look out the side of the massive set of glass windows, noticing several large flashes taking place on the Earth's surface. Lightening was going off in the atmosphere and these flashes were what could be seen from space.

"Alright then, thank you Captain." Malik responded, getting up and out of his chair before kicking the ground and launching himself at the door, flying past his Captain as he saluted her and she did the same, her eyes still fixed upon the ground.

'Curious... isn't it. When you're on the ground in the middle of a storm like that you're running for your life... and that flash, it would be massive, and followed by great clashes of sound. But from up here, way up here, it's harmless. A spark of light, indicating a greater power some distance away, but what kind of great power. If these flashes didn't happen and if I didn't know what was happening in ORB, then I would be ignorant of what is taking place just a few hundred kilometers below my feet.' Talia thought to herself before turning and facing space itself. 'Makes you wonder what really happens up close when you see flashes of light that far away. Sure, we have science to thank for some discoveries, but still, I wonder what's really out there... even if it's close to home...' She finished before opening her jaw and giving off a deep yawn. 'But I guess that's the purpose of our group, to prepare for things like that, and to protect from chaotic powers to the best of our abilities.'

* * *

Minerva lounge:

The door opened up only to have Shinn pass through it seconds later, the black haired, red eyed coordinator wearing his ORB uniform pants with the plain red suit that would be underneath his ORB jacket covering his torso. Scanning the area he found a couple of people still in the room despite the hour, but only three of them were of note: Kira Yamato, Yzak Joule, and Auel Neider. Each of these men, as well as the random unnamed crew members on board the ship were either wearing a PEACE uniform or just it's pants and undershirt, like what Shinn was doing. Still, Kira and Yzak had kept their jackets, and they both had commander ranks. However the Ultimate Coordinator, who appeared to be a now six foot tall man, was, for lack of better words, floating in the air above Auel and Yzak as they stood on the floor surrounding a collapsible pool table, playing a round themselves.

"Thought you went to sleep... or did you just need to lay down for a few?" Kira asked as he turned to look at the newly arrived Shinn, holding a drink cup with a straw in his right hand, as one would use in space.

"Just a chance to relax for a bit after basically cruise controlling myself to death for several hours on the way back here." The Ace of Aces said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little paper wrapper and opened it, revealing a large cookie inside. "That, and I'm now in the mood for a bite to eat, unlike Cagalli." Shinn responded as Auel thrust his cue stick forward, hitting the white ball and causing a moderate amount of noise as the balls rolled around and struck each other. Since there was no gravity in space the balls had an iron core and the table itself gave off a slight magnetic field, enough to keep the balls from flying off into the air on their own.

"Yes! Gotcha! Told ya so, Yzak!" Auel stuck his hands up into the air and cheered for himself as the platinum haired commander clenched his teeth and gave off a slight groan of annoyance before moving over to Auel himself, his blue eyes fixed upon the table, planning his next move as Auel turned his attention to Kira and Shinn.

"So I take it she's gone to sleep? Hmm, kinda odd that she would hit the hay this early." Kira said to himself as Shinn took a bite out of his cookie.

"Oh, I'm sure she was tired alright, considering the circumstances. Knowing them they probably had a nice little session of pillow talk followed by several rounds of..." The light blue haired pilot tried to say.

"**SHUT! UP!**" Yzak erupted, turning his attention towards Auel and punching him directly in the upper right arm, sending the Noir's pilot flying away into the distance as he covered his injured limb with his left palm. "We don't need to know about the nonsense that goes on in their bedchamber." Yzak warned.

"Well he's right, but still." Shinn said.

"Whatever. At least Cagalli will have some time for herself and not have to deal with the constant problem I hear from her about your love for blankets." Kira said before taking a sip of his drink.

"Oh please, she's such a terrible hypocrite in that regard. It's not even funny sometimes." Shinn shrugged off the Ultimate Coordinator's words before looking around. "Where's Stella anyway?" He asked.

"She's in the hanger bay after hearing about how late you guys were." Kira answered as Shinn cocked an eyebrow, trying to make sense of what was happening. "She thought it had something to do with an engine failure in the Sovereign, and perhaps the Judicator, and last I checked she told me she's trying to 'fix' the problems." Kira warned.

"Dammit... Stella..." Shinn sighed. "The reason why we were late had nothing to do with any engine problem... and now that I think about it she'll probably have those two machines dismantled by now trying to find a problem that isn't there!" Shinn said.

"Well if that's the case then she'll put them back together again if she does, and probably just the same way they were before, if not somehow better." Kira joked as Yzak made his move on the pool table as Auel stood a little ways to his right.

"There... like I said I wasn't going to let you beat me!" Yzak said in a prideful tone.

"In any case I should probably go get her in a bit and tell her what's up then. I wouldn't want her to try to find a place to hide and sleep in the hanger bay during our descent tomorrow. Can't imagine what that might do to her." Kira pondered as he turned and looked out the window into space again, Shinn doing the same as each of them either took a sip or bite out of the consumable they were holding, Yzak and Auel still battling it out on the pool table as they did.

* * *

Ono'goro Island, ORB Union:

The entire sky was pitch black if not for the random blasts of lightning coming from the sky above, exposing both the dark clouds overhead and the urbanized land below. At the same time thunder crashed and rain pelted down from the sky, coating the surface of the island nation with icy cold water, while high speed winds rushed between the towering skyscrapers in the city. This was just the beginning of the storm, and the situation would be getting a whole lot worse from here on end. However the chance of someone being hurt in this disaster was actually quite low, for ORB had anticipated something like this taking place, as indicated by the camera cutting to inside several underground shelters in the island, where citizens, young and old, male and female, sleeping or awake, took refuge for the time being.

However, not everyone was buckling down for the occasion. From the shadows of one of ORB's smaller buildings a small group of people, veiled in dark shadow, could be seen preparing themselves behind the walls and windows of one of the city's constructs, their shades all that could be seen as one of them smiled and gave off a pleased 'hmm'. Yes, these people were preparing to strike, but it would not be a violent strike, nor one that would cause direct conflict, but something else... something that was part of an even greater plan to be realized by the island nation later on...

* * *

Author's Note:

Well, that's chapter one of LLS. I hope you enjoyed it, and there's more to come. Couple of things though:

1. Before you say "What Shinn and Cagalli traveled from the Moon to the Minerva in their machines? That doesn't make sense!" I'll simply tell you that Amuro traveled from Anaheim Electronics to (I think) Ra Calium on Char's Counter Attack, so this makes sense.

2. For the heck of it I've decided to try and draw my gundams and mobile suits that I've been 'designing'. Right now I've got a mock sketch of the ORB-04 Judicator made and I'll work at it over time. When I'm ready to post a good copy I'll make a deviant art account and post it there, and tell you guys to check my profile as a reminder. Although keep in mind I'm not a good artist by any stretch of the imagination, so keep that in mind. If you're expecting Hajime Katoki like works... ugh... no.

3. _**Important: **_Also, I am now accepting mobile suit designs and ideas for Valkyrie. However I request that you send them to me by **private message only** if you post with an account. If you do not post with an account, then post it as a review if you must. This is to ensure that the reviews section doesn't get cluttered up with giant lists of mobile suit specs.

4. You've read, and now if you're nice, you'll probably review (xD). However keep in mind I don't want people making assumptions on things that they think are/could happen. Please, you may guess correctly and spoil it for others, so I kindly request that you don't make any big guesses, yet. I already checked over this fic with one of my more trusted FF friends and he guessed a critical plot point right off the bat... lol.


	2. Phase 2: A New Day and New Discoveries

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Gundam Seed Destiny

* * *

**Directed at anyone who sent me/will send me mech designs:**

First of all thanks to Arthogawa, NovaStriker, Nightmarefire and Blazing Sceptile (as well as any others that I might have missed... sorry!) for their ideas. However I think I didn't convey my message clearly enough... or specifically enough as to what I'm going to be looking for when you give me ideas:

_**What I am looking for:**_ Original weapon or design concepts, like Arthogawa's mix of AGE 2 and Exia's wing/blades

_**What I am **__**NOT **__**looking for: **_Names, serial numbers, manufacturers, height/weight specifications, being told to just make dime a dozen grunt suits/special mass production models, designs that simply rehash and combine the ideas of other gundams.

**Reasoning:** Everything in the 'Not looking for' pile is things I can do/make on my own. You guys don't know what factions there will be in Valkyrie so don't put something like that there. I'll be the one to decide what it's name is, how tall/heavy it is anyway, and of course there will be grunt suits with only rifles/shields and a variety of anked up models for elite units, alongside gundams that simply take past designs and remix them... thing is I am perfectly capable of thinking up these things on my own and probably will do so (one of the antagonist mechs will be the equivalent of the Destiny Impulse, although it might be lacking wings... we'll see). What I'm really looking for is new concepts to put into the mix.

* * *

Now, onto Phase 2:

The scene opens up with an image of the Minerva gracefully floating in space, orbiting the Earth. At the same time the sun is reaching over across one side of the planet, it's white and yellow solar rays illuminating the green dirt and blue water below, as well as the cold, red and gray hull of the PEACE Flagship. Meanwhile Typhoon Emiron can be seen in the distance, the very edge of the cloud exposed by the Sun's light, a few sparks of lightening appearing from the cloud, both in it's revealed and veiled sections. Suddenly though, the lone vessel in space begins to take a turn and power up it's engines, heading towards the Earth.

"Beginning descent sequence. Engines to cruising speed in ten seconds." Malik informed as he sat at his station on the bridge, the area of the ship having been lowered into it's battle position.

"Very good." Captain Talia Gladys said before turning to her communications officer. "Kathleen, inform all hands that the Minerva is preparing to make it's way to the Earth." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am. Understood." The officer said as the Captain narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, and be sure to put extra emphasis in your message, so that it 'ensures' that some of our more sleepy crew members and passengers wake up." Talia advised.

"Oh... I will." Kathleen responded in a surprised tone, her eyes widening somewhat at Talia turned to face the front of the bridge and smiled, putting her hand on her chin.

"Or are they all up already?" She whispered to herself.

* * *

Shinn and Cagalli's bedroom:

"All hands prepare for atmospheric entry interface!" Kathleen's voice echoed throughout the entire vessel as Shinn sat on the edge of the bed that he and his wife shared while on the ship, his undergarments and pants on while he attempted to pull his right sock up onto it's foot.

"You hear that, Cagalli?" Shinn asked, turning towards the open bathroom door, where both steam and the sound of a running shower were coming from.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute. Just have to rinse my hair." Cagalli's voice roared from the other room, fighting for dominance over the other sounds being made.

"Alright, just don't be too long okay? I don't want you drying yourself off just as the ship hits the atmosphere." Shinn warned, grabbing his other sock after putting on the right one.

"I know!" Cagalli raged as Shinn smiled, the shower's sound quitting seconds later as the red eyed coordinator stood up and took hold of his undershirt with his left hand, putting it over his head and pulling downwards, his black locks popping through the neck hole seconds later.

* * *

Kira and Stella's room:

"Descent sequence, phase one. Six minutes until entry interface." Came out of the ship wide intercom system as Kira stood leaning over his bed with just his pants and shirt on, his right hand rubbing Stella Loussier's head gently.

"Stella... Stella..." He whispered with the utmost gentleness.

"Ugh... gah..." The Extended gave out a groggy moan from her sleep as she opened her left eye for a second... a split second before closing it. "Five more minutes... please..." She whispered, yawing in her half sleep.

"Stella... we're about to enter the atmosphere... you gotta wake up, Stella..." Kira rubbed her blonde scalp with a slightly greater force.

"Atmospheric... entry... wait?" Purple eyes burst open as Stella leaned upwards, Kira catching her. "We're descending now? How long have I been asleep for?" She asked, turning to Kira.

"For too long, and for not long enough. Yes it's nine hundred hours ORB time now." The Ultimate Coordinator informed.

"Ooh... when did I fall asleep again?" Stella scratched the back of her head with her left hand, clearly upset.

"I don't know. Just before I went to bed myself I found you in the hanger bay last night messing around with some tools and looking at computer specs for the machines, sleeping. Then I carried you back to bed. You must've worn yourself out." Kira explained.

"Oooh... it was Shinn and Big Sis' fault! They messed up their machines and I couldn't figure out why! Made me so frustrated!" She clenched her fists. "But, if it's time to go to Earth then I got to get up now, so there's no point in complaining yet." Stella groaned as she moved away from Kira and, in a sense, jumped from her mattress, flying up towards the roof before flipping over and kicking herself off of it, heading towards the ground before landing on her hands and falling onto her feet in a controlled fashion, standing up straight and sticking her arms out a split second later. "Ta da!" She giggled with joy, despite being tired.

"Good job, now let's get you dressed!" Kira smiled as Stella looked down unto her figure and realized she was just wearing lingerie. "I'm sorry, I couldn't let you go to sleep in your messy mechanics suit." Kira spoke, putting his right hand on the back of his head and closing his eyes, blushing as Stella just look him in the eyes and smiled.

"Oh, okay then. I get it." She said innocently. "Now where is the rest of my clothes?" She asked before walking towards one of the dressers.

* * *

Minerva lounge, five minutes later:

The four ORB-0x gundam pilots were sitting together in their respective pairs, each having had haphazardly put on their outfits in a race towards this location while waiting.

"What do you mean you two were just horsing around out there?" Stella asked, putting on an angry look as she stared at Shinn and Cagalli.

"Yep, that's what happened, for the most part. Blame her though." Shinn pointed at Cagalli as adjusted her attire to make it more presentable and formal.

"Oh no you don't! You don't go blaming everything on Big Sis!" Stella raged, growling as she did, Kira putting his right hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, it's my fault. I just wanted to have a little break, Stella." Cagalli said as she fixed her collar and then turned to the other blonde.

"Well then... why didn't you guys tell me?" Stella asked as the intercom turned on to alert all hands of another message.

"Descent sequence, phase two." Kathleen warned, the large wings on the sides of the ship folding in together as it adjusted it's pitch while entering Earth's atmosphere, the ship beginning to shake as they did.

"Hold on tight, I guess..." Shinn looked up and whispered to himself as Cagalli put her arms around him and pulled him in.  
"Hey? Answer me!" Stella said as the Ace of Aces turned towards her.

"Alright... alright... we had to go see Captain Gladys first." Shinn said.

"And then I went to go eat. We never thought you would go out of your way to try to fix our machines, but thanks though. I hope we didn't bug you too much, Stella." Cagalli said, giving off a kind smile as Stella returned the favor.

"Alright then..." She leaned into the back of the cushion while replying in her usual tone of innocence while Kira wrapped his right arm behind her back and pulled her in for security. "It's fine because Big Sis said so..." She said lightly with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"It'll be okay Stella, we'll be fine..." Kira said. 'She doesn't' like descent sequences... not that much. It's always been an issue with her... but it's okay now...' Kira thought as the ship continued to lower itself to Earth. Over the next couple of minutes the turbulence from the descent began to pick up, bit by tiny bit, the two groups of them huddling together, especially Stella and Kira, as the ship kept on it's course.

"The ship is now entering phase three of it's descent sequence. All personal are to locate and find a spot to sit down and rest in until the ship finishes entering the atmosphere." The intercom spoke for the last time that it would in a couple minutes.

* * *

Although the journey was very shaky there were no problems with the vessel's descent into the atmosphere. Still, at the same time, the Captain of the Minerva could not help but cringe as the main monitors came back online as the ship stabilized.

"Deploying main wings, switching to atmospheric flight." Malik Yardbirds informed, inputting a sequence of commands into his console as the ship's swings spread open, the nose tilting upwards as it did.

"Kathleen, can you contact ORB?" Talia asked as her communications officer typed away for about five seconds and then put her hands up in the air near her head later in a 'no good, dammit' pose.

"No, the storm is interfering with our radio transmissions." She said.

"I see..." Talia looked out the main screen and took notice of the storm cloud hundreds of kilometers away, which still looked to be both white and puffy as well as dark and dangerous. "I wouldn't bother trying to get a message through right now. Malik, set the ship down on the water a hundred or so clicks away from the edge of Emiron. We'll let the crew relax and get some fresh air as we head back, considering how busy we're going to be once we arrive." Talia ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" The helmsman responded as Gladys picked up her phone.

"All hands, this is your Captain. While we have successfully entered the Earth's atmosphere it'll be approximately ten minutes until we land in the pacific and about four hours after that until we arrive in Ono'goro itself. We have yet to make contact with ORB due to interference though. That is all. Gladys out." She finished, hanging up.

"Ten minutes? That's manageable. We should sit here and stay comfortable until we land. I don't know about you guys but I'd rather not get entangled in anything and then find out I've been thrown to the ground because the ship's landed on Earth." Kira said.

"Yeah, I feel the same way. That would leave you with one sore ass." Shinn joked as Cagalli leaned back and put her left hand on her chest.

"I'm going to get something to eat once we're back down. Starving... pancakes and orange juice... and you're going to join me unlike last night! GRR!" Cagalli turned her head and commanded her husband.

"Fine! Okay then, Cagalli." Shinn replied in a loving but angry tone before looking to Kira. "What about you guys?" He asked as Stella yawned.

"Maybe... tired...but need human equivalent of gasoline... battery cells on 'E'." The Extended replied.

"Stella, you didn't ignore time while messing around in the hanger bay, didn't you?" Shinn asked as the younger blonde shook her head in an approving manner.

"She did, and she must be famished. It's okay, I've done the same in the past. Can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep on empty after looking at papers in my office and then chowing down like I'm at an eating contest in the morning." Cagalli explained.

"Yeah, you're right. I could use a glass of milk right now to be honest, Big Sis. A big glass of milk..." Stella kept her eyes open but leaned against Kira at the same time.

* * *

10:30 A.M. ORB Time, Minerva as it sails across the Pacific Ocean at maximum water cruising speed:

Kira Yamato, Yzak Joule, and Shinn Urun Attha were all gathered outside of the ship, standing on the helipad behind the bridge tower and looking out onto the sea, with their personal uniforms on.

"Ah, didn't hope to see you two together out here, of all places." Kira asked as he walked out onto the middle part of the platform and put his hands on the rails.

"I was asking him how playing pool out in space on a ship with no gravity in that location was, considering what happened last night." Shinn responded, turning to Kira as the three of them stood facing the port side of the ship. "Couldn't fine Auel, and to be honest I don't think I would want to." Shinn finished.

"Pah, that brat is probably still sleeping in his room. Woke up for the descent and then crashed right after. Good thing Gladys is a bit more lax sometimes than the average Captain, considering were just traveling back to ORB." Yzak grunted.

"Speaking of missing people, did Stella go back to bed after we had breakfast? Haven't seen her in a while." Shinn turned to Kira and asked, red eyes to violet ones.

"She's either gone back for a quick snooze or is chatting with Cagalli. She was up really late last night from what I remember so it's justified. Unlike Cagalli who for some reason seems to be a little more tired lately..." Kira tilted his head. "Have any idea why that is?" He asked Shinn, whose eyelids expanded by a millimeter or so as he heard those words.

"Uh... no, not really." He said in a worried and slightly anxious tone. "I guess it might be from all that's happening and because of stress perhaps. We've got crisis management once we get back and then the Summit that's taking place soon on the 11th." The red eyed coordinator explained.

"The Summit?" Kira questioned.

"Yeah, she talked about it a little bit last night... said it was bothering her." Shinn answered, the wind picking up somewhat and blocking the hair and uniforms of the three men as the ship continued on towards the dark cloudy horizon at maximum speeds.

"No, what is this 'Summit' exactly? I haven't heard much about it myself but I keep getting whispers." The Ultimate Coordinator asked.

"What? How the hell do you not know?" Yzak asked with his usual joules of rage in his tone as Kira shrugged his shoulders. "Well it's a meeting between all the major world leaders in a couple of days to discuss... how can I put it..." Yzak said.

"'Key issues'." Shinn did the 'quote on quote' thing with his fingers at Yzak. "They're all gathering in the Republic of East Asia to discuss topics like SEED mode, the current usage of the Destiny Plan by humanity, and something to do with Neutron Jammers. We're also going to be able to observe some new kind of nuclear power plant that they've been working on for the past couple of years. It's supposed to be more efficient and cleaner than any one we've got to date. I don't know the details of it though." Shinn looked directly at Kira. "I bet if you and Stella looked at it's blueprints you could figure out what the hell is going on with it. Me, I haven't got a damn clue besides 'it makes energy'." Shinn informed.

"Perhaps, if we could look at it's specs one time. Thanks anyway, I didn't know about that till now." Kira said.

"Yeah, my mother informed me about it a while ago. Apparently some if it was her idea anyway, being who she is. She's still the same mom to me but her public perception has changed from when she was a high ranking Supreme Council women." Yzak added, taking his hands off of the rail and stepping back a bit before looking up at the sky. "Wonder how the hell they're making out these days, the PLANTs. Haven't been there in a while..." Yzak said.

"I remember the last time we were there. You, me, and a couple of the other PEACE pilots..." Kira informed. "And Athrun..." Kira tried to say at a very low, low volume level as the other two coordinators turned their attention towards him, able to pick up his voice.

"We had some time back over a year ago there. Wonder how HE'S doing too." Yzak asked as both Commanders turned around to see Shinn walking towards the door in a 'I'm pissed off right now, but I'm holding it in' way, as if his stride could become a stomp at a moments notice, an aura of anger emanating off of him.

"Hey, Shinn, what's up?" Kira asked in a confused tone, raising his left eyebrow as his two arms rested on the Minerva's rail, his hair flowing behind him in the breeze.

"He's angry because we're talking about Athrun, I guarantee it." Yzak answered in his own semi-ticked voice, standing independently of the rails.

"Yeah, you're right. If you're going to talk about Athrun Zala then I'd rather not be here right now, all things considered. You both know my bad side and you both know how it can be at times about certain subjects... well he's one of them..." Shinn continued to walk off towards the door as Kira sighed.

"During the final battle last war I was surprised that he told me he had probably spared him..." Kira tried to say as the two commanders heard an annoyed groan from Shinn's direction before the door opened.

"Pity, mercy, pride, and arrogance. That's why he's still alive. There, I've answered your question before you even asked it. Now continue talking about your old friend... I'm going to go find my wife." Shinn raised his voice and spoke in a grumpy fashion so that the two behind him could hear him well before entering the ship. 'Pity because I wanted him to see the error of his ways and felt sorry for him. Mercy because I said I would kill him before when I was still a brat and wanted to challenge my past resolves of hatred for the sake of pleasing my own desire to see myself grow up. Pride because keeping him alive would make me seem like a good guy to most people considering Cagalli held me back from ending him in ORB and arrogance because at that time I _knew_ I could defeat him again should he ever become a threat... and considering his current state, that's not likely to happen. Then again, that's odd considering I'm a man who will tell you that the future is almost never a certain thing...' Shinn thought to himself, clenching his fists as he made his way through the Minerva's halls.

"Kid still hates Athrun, even after all these years!" Yzak groaned as he continued to stand outside the ship with Kira, the Ultimate Coordinator sighing as he did.

"I don't think that's likely to change anytime soon. He may have gotten over his past hatred but at least he recognizes his bias in places." Kira turned his head directly towards Yzak. "I wouldn't let him hear you call him a kid though." Kira stated.

"Yeah, yeah, all bloody things considered."

"And he never was a friend of Athrun anyway, unlike us. So expecting him to feel the same way towards him isn't justified. Still, I wonder how our old friend is doing, living in the PLANTs now..." Kira lowered his volume gradually as he finished his sentence, knowing it's answer but still questioning Commander Joule's knowledge.

"Bah, I think the bastards still using that walking cane and hasn't recovered yet... and most likely won't. He took some minor amount of spinal injury at the end of the Second War when his machine crashed into the surface of the Moon." Yzak stated.

"Last time we talked to him he said that while he hasn't lost movement in any of his limbs the doctor recommends he uses a cane to move and he'll sometimes feel pain, especially if he's not using his cane." Kira shook his head. "Poor guy... he chose the wrong side..." Kira sighed.

"At least he's not dead." Yzak clenched his right fist somewhat. "Nicol and Dearka can't say the same thing."

"No thanks to me at least... such is a soldier's life. You kill or you die. If you're lucky you'll live, and even if you do, you're still scared, forever."

"Don't blame yourself over Nicol's death..."

"I never do... but it's always harder when you know the person that you're ending... or when you hear the cries of their close ones in the aftermath..." Kira said as he looked up into the completely clear and blue sky.

* * *

ORB Union, 1:12 P.M.:

"Five degrees to port. Take it easy helm..." Talia groaned roughly as the Minerva prepared to dock into one of the ports in Ono'goro, the vessel shifting it's course somewhat before doing a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn and reversing it's engines. At the same time a closer examination of the island revealed that the category five storm known as Typhoon Emiron did leave it's mark on the island nation. The good news was that the storm was now gone and drifting away in the distance as the wind carried it.

"Alright Captain... just a little more..." Malik Yardbirds said with a grin as he carefully directed the ship through it's docking procedure, the occupants of the vessel feeling it's momentum slip and die off as the ship came to a complete stop in the dock, with several mechanisms coming out of the port and latching onto the ship's hull to keep in in place. "There we go."

"Very good helm. I'll alert the passengers..." Talia tried to say as she was interrupted.

"No need, I'm right here, Captain." Cagalli said as she entered the bridge with her black haired husband by her side. "So I take it we're docked and I can disembark?" She asked in an inquisitive tone.

"Whoa... take it easy Cagalli..." Shinn tried to say lightly before Cagalli stuck up her right hand. 'Why did I say that again?' Shinn thought as he predicted his wife's next words.

"I'm not going to be taking anything easy until I've received a damage report and started to give out orders on how to get everything back to normal, got it?" The Lioness growled.

"Alright, I agree. Let's go, Cagalli. There's no point keeping the rest of parliament waiting, and it looks like this is going to be one heck of a mess to clean up." Shinn cringed, remembering what he saw while he was looking out of some of the Minerva's other windows on his way to the bridge, the two of them walking onto the elevator seconds later.

* * *

ORB Parliament building, five minutes later:  
The Chief Representative of the ORB Union sat in her chair at the end of the table with Shinn standing by her side, several other important figures sitting at the table nearby.

"Lady Cagalli, I can assure you that at this point in time we have not recorded a single death and only a handful of injuries." One of the older men stated.

'Well that's a relief... still...' Shinn thought to himself. "How much of the city has been checked? We may not have found any casualties yet but that doesn't mean we won't completely. There may still be some people locked under debris." Shinn said with a tone of urgency.

'He's remembering how his family left this world and wants to make sure the same situation doesn't arise here... not that I blame him, considering how powerful that storm was... but still.' The Lioness thought. "Settle down, Shinn. I'm sure the rescue crews are giving it their all right now." Cagalli stood up. "I want to know what areas took the largest amount of damage. When we docked in the port I can tell you right now I did not like what I saw running parallel to the shore. Hopefully that was the worst of the damages though..." Cagalli scanned the room.

"Just after it was safe to send our mobile suits into the air we ordered several Murasumes to take off and scan the city for damages. From the reports we got back the military and industrial districts took the brunt force of Emiron and are in the worst condition by far." Another minister informed as he slid a folder over to the two of them. "Here, these are some of the pictures our soldiers took. See for yourself, milady." He said as Cagalli gave a slight nod and opened the folder, taking out a stack of photos and scanning them as Shinn turned his attention to the ministers himself.

"How well did the shelters hold up overnight? What about Morganroate itself? Were any of the critical locations in the military district compromised? What about chemical leaks in the industrial districts?" The red eyed coordinator asked.

"The shelters held up magnificently. Morganroate is performing an analysis of it's central office and laboratories right now and we've yet to hear about any out of control chemical leak, although that's not to say that Ono'goro Coco didn't suffer a hit to one of it's sugar tanks, if that answers your questions, Prince Consort." Another elderly man stated.

"A container full of sweets isn't going to be much of a threat unless it catches fire..." Cagalli said as she finished scanning though the photos and passed them to Shinn. "Here, look." She directed her attention towards the ministers. "Yes, the military and industrial districts did take the most damage but not 'by far', as you stated. While the other islands don't look to have taken nearly as much damage Ono'goro's beach front where many houses have been set up was completely flooded and is a disaster area. I don't want any unauthorized personal entering that area right now... the buildings there look very unstable from what I can see and I would hate to see some random five year old seriously injure themselves because they were playing basketball in the wreckage... now, with that in mind what plans do you have for those who have been left homeless in the wake of this disaster?" She asked, waiting for a second or two and receiving no answer. Considering all the ORB government had on it's plate it was no surprise that they couldn't answer each and every question that needed to be pleased, not yet anyway. "Alright, since many of our hotels and apartments are located on the interior of the city where damage appears to be minimized I want those locations turned into temporary shelters for family's whose homes have been destroyed. Is that fine with you all?" She asked, most of the men nodding in agreement with her idea to some extents as one of them raised their hands and spoke.

"And what of the people in charge of those buildings right now? What is they object?" He asked.

"Tell them the government will repay them for letting us make use of their complexes, regardless of whether or not they agree at first. At this point in time all I care about is making sure that my people are safe and sound and won't be left on the streets at night because of what has transpired between last night and this morning. Most, if not all other concerns are secondary, is that clear?" Cagalli asked as several responses were given between 'yes, milady', 'yes, your majesty' and 'yes, Lady Cagalli.' "Very good. Disaster clean up efforts are to..." She tried to say as her phone rang and she picked it up. "Yes Ezalia..." Cagalli spoke, the smile of leadership on her face slowly fading to anger as the women on the other end of the line informed her of what she needed to hear. "I... I understand. We'll deal with it to the best of our abilities... yes... talk to you later." She slammed the phone down as several other men leaned back and put on surprised looks. Heck, even Shinn seemed perplexed as he placed the photos on the table and Cagalli planted both palms on the wood surface, which usually indicated that she was pissed. "Of all the..."

"Hey, what's going on?" Her husband asked.

"I want several teams of armed guards deployed at this very instant throughout the city. They are to watch the crews and keep tabs on our rescue and clean up efforts, as well as have their eyes peeled for anyone suspicious." The Lioness ordered.

"What's the matter? Is it critical?" One of the old men asked, utterly confused as Cagalli shook her head.

"No, no, no. The situation is not critical, but it could go out of control if we don't handle it correctly.,," Cagalli tilted her head upwards. "We just need to, and will, compensate for a new factor at work due to the damage inflicted by Typhoon Emiron." A stern look enveloped her face.

* * *

Sextilis Five:

Standing on a balcony outside of one of the massive apartment complexes in the colony and overlooking the buzzing city beneath him was none other than Athrun Zala himself, the man who had 'saved' this colony from destruction during the last war by ejecting from his machine at the time, the ZGMF-X23S Savior gundam, and allowing it to fly into a nuclear missile that had damaged engines, while surviving the incident himself. Currently the man made wind was flying through his dark blue locks of hair as he simply stared off in the distance at the colony wall. In his right hand is the handle of a simple walking cane, although he was lazily using it and it didn't seem like he needed to rely on it _too_ much, but at the same time he couldn't exert himself and it wouldn't be wise for him to do any heavy lifting.

'This place that we're in... this time that we're in.. we are at peace, but for how long? Lacus... is dead. Durandal? Murdered by Shinn of all people.' Athrun's grin tightened to some degree of anger. 'I still wonder to myself if we were better off listening to the Chairman at the end of the last war. I guess I'll just have to wait it out and see how long things last... that's all I can really do now.' Athrun thought as he turned around and stepped back inside the apartment building that he called home, and these weren't small and cheap suits by any stretch of the imagination either. Despite what had happened at the end of the last war Athrun was given a place to stay in the PLANTs and by the government itself, due to his efforts and, in the minds of the people who were saved on this colony due to his actions, bravery. Even though he was on the losing side of the war and suffering a major loss by another pilot who he would usually stare down upon, the green eyed man felt some comfort in knowing that he was still appreciated by the people... _his people_, of the PLANTs. Yet as Athrun stepped made his way through his average sized living room he remembered seeing Yzak and Kira a while back in this very same location, chatting with him. It was awkward then, but an alright situation. When the three of them did converse it felt like there was a silent agreement between them on what not to talk about, which specifically included anything that happened during the Second Bloody Valentine War. Indeed, as Athrun sat down in his comfortable chair he cringed a bit from pain coming from his back... it was alright though and quickly went away as soon as it appeared. However afterwords he cracked a smile. It was nice to discuss matters with old friends once in a while, and he wondered if he would be seeing Kira and Yzak soon.

_****Knock Knock**  
**_

"Huh?" The blue haired man turned around and looked towards the door in the distance that lead out of his house. "Who could that be? Is it her?" He wondered, getting up and gently using cane to move towards the door. No, his walking wasn't inhibited to such an extent that he always needed the stick to move, but the doctor had told him it was better to alleviate some of the weight on his back and legs to the ground after what had happened. Still, he was slow with his movements, and seemed to be pondering something. 'She usually doesn't come around till a little later? I've never seen her this early.' Athrun thought, referring to someone.

The person who he was thinking about was in fact just a little girl who had a talent for baking, despite her young age. She was the daughter of one of Sextilis' major politicians, a man who had a fair degree of political prowess, and, as Athrun had found out when he talked and had a drink with the man, as well as some of the other Zaft soldiers in this place every couple of weeks, pro-Durandal. With that in mind his daughter would make this giant batch of cupcakes and go around the entire building, handing them out to everyone she knew, which was a lot of people here, to be honest. Indeed, she reminded Athrun a little bit about Lacus herself: A gentle, talented female with some talent in a field who only wanted to bring joy and make the world better. Knowing that more people like that existed in this world made Athrun happy, although that happiness would quickly be taken away.

"Hello?" He asked, opening the door to see three men in black sunglasses and black suits standing before him. 'Oh great...' Athrun mentally groaned. "Can I help you with anything?" He asked, turning his head to one side.

"Athrun Zala?" The leading man asked.

"The one and only..." Athrun responded.

"Come with us please." The man responded in an emotionally cold tone.

"Ugh... who are you?" Athrun stepped back slightly and got into a somewhat defensive posture, although not too overt. "Where would you be taking me anyway."

"That's none of your concern. Now please..." The leading man stated in his monotone voice as the one to his left interrupted him.

"Oh give it up, Jim. He's not going to just give in. Here, let me bloody knock him with the..." The other man stated in a cocksure and arrogant tone as he pulled out what appeared to be a tranquilizer dart gun from his right pocket and targeted Athrun with it, green eyes widening at the same time.

"Hyuggg GAH!" Athrun screamed, tilting his right hand upwards, the cane following suit as the end of the stick hit the barrel of the dart gun and sent it out of the second man's hands before Athrun thrust his right hand forward, nailing the man in the forehead with the bottom end of the cane and breaking his sunglasses, the second suited man backing up into the wall on the other side of the hallway. "Dammit!"

"How dare you!" The third man, who seemed to be neither cold nor arrogant, but rather angry, said as he lunged forward at Athrun and attempted to deck him in the head, the Red Knight leaning to his left and dodging before bringing his left arm around the back of the suited man and grabbing him in the back before ducking and lifting, the suited man getting caught on Athrun's right arm and being sent flying over the coordinator's shoulders, hitting the floor of the apartment seconds later, a slight negative tingling sensation being felt by Athrun in a certain place.

"Dammit... what the hell is this all about?" Athrun asked as he turned his head towards the man he had just thrown, to see if he was down for the count and noticing that he very well wasn't, his pain increasing a bit more. 'I've got to deal with these guys... quick...'

"You'll pay for that, you punk!" The man roared, trying to get back up on his feat as Athrun tried to stop him, moving out of the way of a punch headed in his direction from the first black suited man, who tried to grab his head and then potentially knock him into one of the wall to get him down.

"I think not!" Athrun groaned, stepping on the right arm of the third man to prevent him from getting up as he blocked the first one with his left arm, being pushed out of the way. 'I think I can take him...' He tried to think before his eyes widened suddenly and he groaned in great pain, giving way and collapsing onto the ground on his bottom, feeling his back spark with agony. "Shit..." He grunted before moving his right hand so that it was gripping the bottom of his cane, the bulb used for holding it being thrust forward at the first man who was trying to close the gap again and punch him in the gut, but got hit in the gut instead with the end of the stick and was forced back, his eyes and mouth wide open and in shock.

"Jim! You bastard!" The third man stated as he tried to get up again.

"I can still... ugh..." Athrun attempted to get on his feet again to combat the man but felt the pain coming from his back injury again and struggled to do so. "Take... you... nap..." Eyelids fell onto bright green eyes as Athrun collapsed onto the ground again, on his back this time, his eyes closed, a tranquilizer dart in his left leg, right in the thigh.

"Got the bastard! Thanks for keeping him busy, I appreciate it." The second man stated in a snobby tone before walking into the apartment, holding the gun as the first suited man took his hands off of his gut and stood up straight and the third man did the same.

"Son of a bitch. Why does the boss want him anyway?" The third man asked, breathing as he did.

"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that we take care of him as instructed." The first man, Jim, said as he turned to the second one. "Close the door." He then turned to the third one. "Look for the keys to this place. I want to lock the door on our way out so that by the time they realize he's gone we're off of this hourglass. If the door's locked they'll think he's just out for now. We're lucky there was no one else in this hallway right now or else we'd have to tranq them too." Jim ordered as the third man nodded his head in agreement and wiped his nose, an angry look on his face as he stared down at the now unconscious Athrun Zala...

* * *

An hour later:

A small little girl who was no older than nine with short red pig tails and bright blue eyes was walking through the halls of the apartment building, a colorful looking pink basket being held by her right elbow as she gently skipped through the way, coming up to one of the doors on her right and knocking on it, but receiving no response in a matter of seconds. Curious, she tilted her head to one side and knocked again, but still got no answer.

"Mr. Zala?" She wondered, knocking for the third time. "Mr. Zala? Maybe he's not here today... I'll come back and see him tomorrow then. I'm sure he'll have returned by then!" She said to herself before skipping down the hallway again.

* * *

In an unknown location at an unknown time:

An array of television screens lines the curved wall in front of a chair that is fixed to the ground, it's occupant lazily resting in it and yet at the same time paying attention to what is happening on each television display, hidden from view at this angle though. At the same time a fat, fluffy black cat begins to walk in from behind the chair at a moderate pace, for cats that is.

"Meow?" The feline said as it reached the front foot of the chair, looking up at it's master, the sound of someone gulping a glass of wine and putting it down transpiring just a second later.

"Ah, Paladin. How nice of you to join me..." The person sitting in the chair with his legs crossed said, his attire that of a yellow suit with purple trim as two hands came down upon either side of the cat and grabbed it before pulling it upwards and into his lap, the view rising upwards to reveal the face of the man sitting in the lone chair as none other than the short gray haired, sharp green eyed man known as Lord Djibril. "I was just going to get a status report on everything that's been going on..." Djibril states as he stares out onto the screens and fixes his gaze onto one specifically. "The world is at peace. Aprilius Three has been deflected away from the planet with ease, and everyone is fine... unless you're ORB..." Djibril cracked a smile while slowly petting Paladin's back with his left palm. "If you're ORB then you're dealing with a mess that's come your way, and now you have to deal with the aftermath. Not to worry though, because you are strong... and as such, dealing with this catastrophe will be simple." He frowned. "You're not the only strong one though, and you're not the only one who has to clean up a mess as well..." Djibril pressed several buttons on the controls of his right arm rest, the screens switching to reveal the faces of several other men, including the main one who had kidnapped Athrun. "Status." Djibril said one word, and he said in it such a sharp and serious tone at the same time. A split second later one of the men, who was an unknown, began to speak.

"We were lucky, mi lord. Emiron hit ORB hard, but the greatest damages were to it's Morganroate buildings above all else. Despite being a military grade facility, breaking into it was a simple task last night considering some of the stuff the wind threw at the place." The man spoke.

"So I take it you've managed to acquire the information that I seek?" Djibril asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. The data on the SEEDpathy system has been acquired as per your orders, and we are currently on our way to your location as we speak." The informant explained before giving a slight pause. "Oh... and..." He stated, turning to his left and moving out of the way as another man, who was five foot five, slightly chubby, and had blue eyes and green hair. He was a familiar man, he was Edir Arak, and he was now standing in the screen in front of Djibril.

"Ah, Edir. I didn't expect you to be able to make it out of that prison in all the confusion... how are you anyway?" Djibril tilted his head to his right and looked at his fellow Logos member.

"I... I am fine, Lord Djibril, but you don't know what three years in a prison like that can do to a man..." Edir tried to say in a slow voice.

"Oh, I can guess. Know right now though that if we could have broken you out, we would have. However at the end of the Second War I had... my own problems to deal with, if you know what I mean. Still, when you see me we'll discuss matters of the here and now... and of our plans... get you up to speed with what we're doing and see what you can do to help... we're going to be very busy during this next week or so. I hope you understand, alright?" Djibril asked as Edir gave a simple nod and walked away from the camera as Djibril turned towards Jim. "Has the target been acquired? And with what degree of stealth, may I add?" He asked in a concerned manner.

"Athrun Zala is currently in our hands right now and we are headed back to the desired coordinates as you speak. I don't think anyone managed to figure out that he has been taken yet and we left the door locked to make it seem like he just left to go somewhere. At the same time we have yet to hear of any alerts or alarms going on in the PLANTs about any kidnappings so I can safely assure you that they do not know of what we're up to." Jim said in a cold and emotionally dead tone.

"This pleases me..." Djibril continued to massage his cat's back. "You have done well, for if our plan is to be successful then no one may know of what transpired today... not yet, at least." Djibril grinned. "Oh yes... the hour will soon be at hand... the hour of righteousness. It's time we taught this world one final lesson... those who are known only as coordinators cannot exist with us naturals... and because of that, they will all perish..." Djibril gave out a slight laugh before cringing and groaning, his left middle finger having been just bitten by the black cat in his lap. "Gah! Paladin! Shoo!" He threw the feline off of him.

"Meow!"

* * *

Attha Mansion, five o'clock ORB time:

"Big Sis! How was the meeting!" Stella yelled with joy as Shinn and Cagalli walked into the living room of the manor, getting settled in as Kira and Stella sat on one of the couches watching television.

"It was nothing, really. Parliament already had most of the situation under control in accordance with the guidelines for dealing with a situation like this. We would have been out earlier though if it wasn't for a couple of things coming up... and I hope I've dealt with them effectively." Cagalli stated.

"We'll see in time..." Shinn quietly muttered as the two progressed through the living room and Shinn sat down on a large white chair across from Kira and Stella while Cagalli sat down in his lap.

"I hear my house took a hit somewhere. Tell me what's damaged. You two have been here longer than us." Cagalli ordered.

"Two of the guest rooms on the second floor took a hit from a fallen tree, and the main window in your room got busted up." Kira informed.

"Yeah, we managed to go around the whole place while you two were gone. Luckily the electrical system is still undamaged. Trust me I made sure to examine everything I could." Stella said in a confident tone.

"Dammit! So our room is probably a mess, I take it?" Shinn asked, getting a little annoyed at the development.

"From what I saw. You two are going to have rest somewhere else tonight." Kira shrugged his shoulders as Shinn sighed, the Ultimate Coordinator wondering about something different and narrowing his eyes as he asked seconds later in the silence. "Hey, what's with the increase in soldiers patrolling the grounds and even the city." The brunette pointed towards the television which displayed the damaged city as news crews reported on it, the distinct signs of armed men being displayed walking around the city as they did.

"Oh... that... Cagalli..." Shinn turned his head towards the blonde as she sighed.

"That's a safety measure. Seamis was damaged in the storm and broken into." Cagalli stated as Kira's eyes widened and Stella put on a look of perplexity.

"What's a 'Seamis'?" The Extended asked.

"Ono'goro's prison. It's located in the same sector as the military districts, which were damaged heavily overnight in the storm. So I'm guessing the damage allowed the place to break open and several of the prisoners to escape, right? The question is... how was it broken into?" Kira asked.

"There's an ongoing investigation right now, but that doesn't mean that several known and dangerous convicts have escaped from Seamis and are out and about. We're not even completely sure who got out and how many people are roaming about. That's why I've anked up the security and have sent soldiers to patrol the area. Although even then that's not the worst of it. Morganroate itself was damaged and we think the main data core there might have either been hacked into or something. I want you two to head there tomorrow morning and check out the place, if that's fine with you." Cagalli stated as she got slightly more comfortable in her husband's arms, Shinn lowering his head somewhat so that his right ear was resting on the side of her head.

"Sure, I'll check it out. What makes you think it might have been hacked or something?" Kira asked.

"Morganroate says it's acting weird. For all we know it might have just been the strong lightning in the storm... might have overpowered the circuit breakers and dealt some damage, considering how strong it was reported to be. Still, it'll be a couple of days before the Minerva is resupplied and ready to leave again, so it's not like you're going anywhere. Regardless of what happened I want to know what transpired last night... just in case somethings out of the ordinary..." Cagalli said.

"Got it." Kira nodded as the door opened.

"Who is it?" Shinn raised his voice slightly so it would carry over to the door as an ORB soldier walked into the living room and saluted the four of them.

"Lady Cagalli... Prince Consort Shinn... Prince Kira..." The young soldier who seemed to be of twenty-five said in a slightly rushed and hurried voice before Cagalli interrupted him.

"There's no need for formalities like that if you're just giving me news. What's happened? Spit it out!" The Lioness asked as she stood up and faced the soldier.

"We've reported a small riot breaking out in the central district of the city." The soldier stated.

"A riot? What?" Shinn popped out of his chair.

"Hang on? Give me details, now!" Cagalli ordered, stepping forward a little.

"Several escaped convicts managed to break into a damaged liquor store and set fire to it just a couple minutes ago. They seem to be organized though, and reports are stating that their leader is Ethan Rulski..."

"Wasn't he Durandal's spy last war?" Shinn butted in as Cagalli gave him a quick glance to be quiet.

"Yes... what else? How serious is the situation?" Cagalli asked the soldier.

"They seem to be chanting something along the lines of 'If Durandal had won the last war we would all be free!' and while they haven't done any harm to average citizens yet our soldiers are in position to deal with the situation and are awaiting orders, Commander and Chief." The soldier stated as Cagalli tilted her head down slightly and thought.

"Well just give the order to open fire on them if they're going to do something like that! Treat them as you would if they had tried to break out of prison!" Shinn raged as Kira countered.

"What? Are you crazy? What about the regular people who would try to be recovering their belongings in that section right now? What if they get caught in the crossfire?" Kira asked as Shinn frowned.

"Oh... damn..." He said in a defeated tone, realizing the terrible advice he just made as Cagalli turned to the soldier.

"Well first things first, make sure the fire goes out and does not spread, is that clear?" She asked as the soldier nodded. "Have the police force and military attempt to deal with the situation and do NOT fire back using lethal weapons unless they manage to get a hold of their own guns and are making use of them. I want to minimize casualties as much as possible, on all sides. They're probably just making a fuss because of all that's happened well them we'll show them how bad of an idea this was, alright? Now go!" She ordered as the soldier saluted her and left, but before he went through the door Shinn added something.

"Oh, and be sure to double the security around the manor, just in case." Shinn stated in a worried tone, which was unlike him.

"Alright then..." The soldier tried to say as Cagalli cringed.

"What? Forget what he said! Just go! Now!" The Lioness ordered as the now slightly confused soldier left the room while Cagalli turned to her husband. "Why would you want even more soldiers patrolling the mansion, Shinn? As it is they're sufficient already and our forces should be dealing with the threat downtown as is. There's literally no need..."

"What if they managed to break into one of the military armories?" Shinn asked, looking Cagalli in the eye.

"We already discussed that in the meeting. Most of them didn't take too much damage and all of them have been securely locked down right now. Meanwhile there's a fire going on downtown and you want more armed men up here where nothing's happening?"

"I'm watching out for you!"

"Watching out for me? Watching... what? Why? We're safe here right now! If this was an invasion by someone else I'd be angry but this is just the aftermath of a tropical storm messing things up and letting a few random thugs run around the city! I don't need you to watch out for me right now in my own home!" Cagalli raged.

"Oh yes you do and you know exactly why I'm doing this!" Shinn grunted, walking forward towards his wife and expressing his height advantage as they angrily stared into each others eyes.

"Kira... what's going on...?" Stella whispered to her lover as a perplexed Ultimate Coordinator stood up to the left of his sister and right of his brother in law. "They're... strange..."

"Shinn... Cagalli... what's gotten into you two? Shinn especially... you usually never go to this level of alertness when trying to safeguard Cagalli... not even I do sometimes!" Kira stated as the two continued to look into each others eyes.

"Oh, and what reason is that?" Cagalli raged at Shinn.

"Take a guess. You know as well as I do that you are a little more... fragile these days." Shinn said.

"Fragile! Fragile? I am not fragile! I am a tough girl and by personal experience in our bedchamber you know that for a fact, Shinn Urun Attha!" Cagalli roared at Shinn as he didn't budge an instant.

"Not right now you're not! Not to me, anyway!" Shinn stated, holding his ground.

"Oh, and how would you feel if I decided to prove that theory wrong! Right now! Let's go at..."

"Ugh... fine th..." Shinn tried to say as Stella pushed Kira aside and shoved Shinn and Cagalli apart.

"WHAT THE FRIG IS BIG SIS AND SHINN DOING FIGHTING LIKE THAT! I WANT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW!" The blonde Extended let out her rage as she stood between them and Cagalli made an upset but bittersweet smile and Shinn sighed.

"Fine then, go on and tell them why you're being Mr. Overprotective right now?" Cagalli stated.

"No, you do it..." Shinn retorted.

"Uh uh... I'm not the one saying we should divert forces from a situation that could potentially go out of control to a situation where nothing is seriously happening right now and there isn't any reason to believe otherwise. Now tell, and yes, I know what you mean." Cagalli stated, rolling her eyes. 'Oh, so that's what he's talking about... FOR CRYING OUT LOUD SHINN!'

"Gah, fine Cagalli. I'll tell them. It's about time." Shinn grunted as he turned towards Kira and Stella.

"Tell us what, Shinn?" Kira asked.

"Are you two keeping secrets from us? What secrets! Tell me now!" Stella raged in a childish and innocent tone as Shinn tried to muster the words.

'Alright... let's see how Kira takes this...' The Ace of Aces gathered himself and breathed in heavily.

"Shinn?" Kira leaned his head to it's left.

"Spit it out, for crying out loud!" Cagalli roared.

"Fine..." He took a pause. "Kira, what do the words 'with child' mean to you?" Shinn said in a calm fashion, although with great difficulty at the same time.

"What... with child... Shinn..." Kira's eyes narrowed and he seemed to get a bit angry. "Are you saying Cagalli is... pregnant?"

"Yes, Kira, you bastard! I'm bloody 'with child'... and I've been pregnant for two bloody months already!" Cagalli stated in a serious but formal tone as Kira put on an expression that while it didn't represent surprise did express how unprepared he was for this news...

* * *

Author's Note:

Yep, you heard it correctly. Shinn and Cagalli are going to have a baby **gasp**

On another note... what did you think of this chapter? I've got mixed feelings about it to be honest. We'll get more information on Athrun and Logos later on, but right now how good was this phase? I know the riot thing seems a bit undeveloped and to be honest it was, above all else, a trigger for Shinn to be overprotective of his soon-to-be bulging (wink) wife, and we will get a little more information on it next episode, but it'll still be minor.

Logos Last Stand hasn't picked up that much yet but I guarantee you there will be at least one exciting scene next phase as things start to hit it into high gear.

I've also drawn some line art for the ORB-04 Judicator. When I get my hands on a working scanner I'll post it up on deviantart but it'll be a while before I can color it and put in a detailed color copy. With that in mind the poll results for the best ORB gundam have been

_ORB-04 Judicator: 3 votes (42%)_

_ORB-02 Veneficus: 3 votes (42%)_

_ORB-01 Sovereign: 1 vote (14%)_

_ORB-03 Demoness: 0 votes (0%)_

So with that in mind, read and review. Oh, and I'll be posting an 'M' rated one shot sometime later... you'll know when you see it on the story archives.


	3. Phase 3: Emotion

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Gundam Seed Destiny

* * *

At my reviewers:

NovaStriker: Yeah, despite my own dislike for Athrun I decided to give him a scene of his own. In this fic he'll see some better light, trust me. About your idea though... goddammit! No, i'm not mad, it's just that what you are suggesting is in fact very similar to one of the design concepts of one of the gundams in Valkyrie... no, I'm not going to disclose which gundam, but you guessed what one of them will have, to an extent. Also completely and utterly agreed on the 'too little tentacles'... maybe I'll make a Destroy-esque gundam in the future that is basically a ship sized metal squid of death... maybe. XD And for the record everyone I'm calling off the 'don't make any guesses' thing. What I didn't want you to spoil was Cagalli's pregnancy.

Arthogawa: Once you read the opening scene you might understand why I wrote it the way I did. Yes Kira's the overprotective brother but at the same time he was the one who got Shinn and Cagalli together in the first place for the sake of it... and then things went on from there. If he didn't have... yeah, the scene would have been different. What Logos has does not spell good for ORB and Co. That being said Shinn won't have that much of a role with Athrun in this fic besides one part... you'll see when I get there. On the other hand, I had to make Athrun's capture more realistic, and truth be told guys, I do have something nice that you guys might like for Plot B of Humanity's Fate when I release it... some edits to his character to make his development more 'believable' and not as 'contrived' which, if I truly go back and look at it... it kinda is. That being said don't go re-reading Humanity's Fate until then, alright? But yeah, if he hadn't had been injured he would have probably kicked them all out or it would have been close.

* * *

Just as a note, this chapter covers different things in different areas so if you're going to do a detailed review it would probably be better to write stuff down after every 'scene shift' so that you don't miss stuff. Some people I noticed last chapter really just commented on the end of the chapter and not really some of the bits in the middle.

* * *

Anyway... where were we last chapter? Oh yeah...

_"Fine..." He took a pause. "Kira, what do the words 'with child' mean to you?" Shinn said in a calm fashion, although with great difficulty at the same time._

_"What... with child... Shinn..." Kira's eyes narrowed and he seemed to get a bit angry. "Are you saying Cagalli is... pregnant?"_

_"Yes, Kira, you bastard! I'm bloody 'with child'... and I've been pregnant for two bloody months already!" Cagalli stated in a serious but formal tone as Kira put on an expression that while it didn't represent surprise did express how unprepared he was for this news..._

At this point in time, the Ultimate Coordinator was in a slight state of shock, unable to speak any words, while Stella remained still with her right hand over her mouth, quieter than a mouse and subconsciously waiting for the next move to be made while Cagalli remained in her pissed off pose and Shinn braced for the worst, which was coming, very quickly.

"Shinn..." Kira turned to his black haired brother-in-law with an expecting look, his voice calm but hiding it's true emotions.

"What... we told you what we wanted to tell you!" Shinn answered in a rude tone, exposing Kira's anger underneath.

"Shinn... what have you done..." He took a slight pause before opening his eyes a little wider. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO CAGALLI!?" He yelled loudly as Shinn's defensive pose tightened.

"I did what married couples do to each other, is that, in any way, shape, or form a problem?" Shinn asked.

"YOU MADE _MY SISTER_ PREG..."

"I DECIDED TO HAVE A BABY WITH _MY WIFE_, WHO I AM LEGALLY TIED TO, AND WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE _YOUR SISTER!_" Shinn counter raged, the two men starring each other down.

"DID YOU FORGET WHAT I GAVE YOU THE FIRST NIGHT YOU TWO WERE TOGETHER?" Kira thrust his arms forward at Shinn as the two locked hand to hand, pushing on each other and trying to get the advantage, gazing angrily into the other's eyes.

"I DIDN'T! I JUST DIDN'T..."

"DIDN'T WHAT? I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMARTER THAN TO DO SOMETHING LIKE..." Kira yelled.

"NO, I SERIOUSLY DECIDED NOT TO USE IT, BECAUSE WHAT HAPPENED WAS WHAT I WANTED TO HAPPEN!" Shinn replied as Stella tapped on Cagalli's shoulder and got her attention as she watched the two males yell at each other, seeing where she could go in and stop it all.

"Big... Big Sis... why are Kira and Shinn... angry with each other so much? They... never... get this angry at each other..." The younger blonde asked in a frightened and innocent tone as Cagalli looked at her and smiled.

"Boys will be boys... don't worry though..." Cagalli said over the voices of Shinn and Kira, walking towards them and yelling right at them.

"OH, AND SINCE WHEN DO I NEED YOUR PERMISSION TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT WITH CAGALLI? BY ALL MEANS, TELL ME WHO MADE THAT DECREE!" Shinn raged.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU... I TRUSTED..." Kira counter raged.

"YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP! **NOW**_**... NOW!**_" The Lioness let out a very frightening roar, baring her fangs at the Ultimate Coordinator and Ace of Aces.

"Cagalli... I'm sorry but your over reactive twin brother..." Shinn tried to say in a bitter and angry tone.

"Cagalli... why didn't you tell us earlier...?" Kira asked at the same time, his tone nearly the same as Shinn's.

"Because we didn't think it was time to tell you guys. We're allowed to keep our secrets, right?" The Lioness asked as Kira stepped back a little but then quickly regained his ground, trying to look at both Shinn and Cagalli.

"Alright... so you're two months pregnant... out of nine, okay then. Still, I would have liked to have known earlier but now I do know. Even then... Cagalli I thought you were good at keeping track of your 'cycles' so why..." Kira tried to say as Cagalli quickly pressed her left first finger against his mouth and cut him off instantly.

"Yes, I'm good at keeping track of my menstrual cycles Kira, but this was different. The night... and following day that everything went down Shinn deliberately didn't use protection because I wanted to have a child, is that so hard to understand? Is it? Then tell me why, Kira, and I'll remedy the situation. I'll remedy the situation this instant!" She spoke in a poisonously angry tone, raising her right fist while Kira, who didn't want to hurt his now-known-to-be-pregnant sister back off.

"Told you so... but you wouldn't listen to me..." Shinn grunted in a condescending tone, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes as Kira grabbed Cagalli's left arm and put it down, calming.

"Alright then... I get it. If you really wanted to get pregnant then it would be your decision to make. I guess... this just struck me as a complete surprise. A very, VERY big surprise." Kira apologized.

"Yeah, you got that right." Shinn added as Cagalli gave him a quick glare, indicating that she didn't want him to make the situation worse. "Fine, I'll stop."

"Yes, it's true. This was no accident, Kira. I can tell you that right now... but don't worry..." Cagalli smiled at her sibling.

"Fine then..." Kira replied in between the break in her speech.

"Uncle to be... whaa..." Cagalli's smiled widened for a second before she felt something grab her torso and looked down to see Stella with her ear pressed against her stomach. "Stella... what are...?" She blushed greatly as Kira and Shinn both looked down onto the younger girl with complete and total shock.

"Alright then... Big Sis is having a baby then? But... why isn't it kicking? Aren't these guys supposed to kick at some point in time? Well? I can't hear anything." Stella took her ear off of Cagalli's still fairly slim stomach and looked at her belly button directly before speaking. "Hello? Little one... can you hear me? Hey?" She asked in a childish tone as Kira leaned down and grabbed her under the arms.

"Uh... Stella... I don't think that Cagalli appreciates you trying to talk to her 'little one', especially this early on..." Kira tried to say.

"But... I want to say hello... is that bad?" Stella asked, utterly confused as Kira got her up on her feet.

"Stella you can't... talk to a baby this early on... it can't hear you..." Cagalli replied, trying to work her way around Stella's child like behavior that existed unless she was working on something mechanical or fighting.

"Oh... then... sorry. I'm sorry, Big Sis. It's just... that's so interesting." Stella giggled.

"But do you know what that means for you?" Shinn asked from behind as he approached them.

"What?" Stella asked, turning to Shinn.

"It means you're going to be... an Aunt!" The red eyed coordinator stated as Stella cheered.

"Wow... cool..." She got slightly excited, filling the room with joy as Kira turned to Shinn and the two locked eyes now, calmed down.

"And you're going to be..." Shinn tried to say.

"An Uncle... yes, and I'm proud of it." Kira responded as the two gave each other respective nods.

"Alright then... now that that's over..." Cagalli diverted attention to herself. "Where were we anyway? Just before that soldier barged in to tell me something?" She asked.

"We were... wait... speaking of which..." Kira looked back at Shinn. "So you wanted to increase guard patrols around the manor to protect Cagalli, right?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little..." Shinn tried to respond as Kira gave him a very negative nod.

"No, you were right. I'll go inform the guards right now."

"KIRA!" Cagalli yelled.

"If not to prevent the hooligans from coming here, but to prevent Cagalli from running out and trying to stop everything if something breaks out or if she just gets angry and feels the need to do something." Kira stated as his sister growled.

"Ahaha... ah, nice one, Kira. I get it now..." Shinn laughed as the two fist bumped each other, Stella standing nearby a very angry Cagalli.

'Alright... I think I need to have a little chat with Cagalli... alone...' Kira thought.

* * *

Attha Mansion, ten thirty at night:

Cagalli sat on the deck in one of the mansion's great many guest rooms, overlooking the city off in the distance as the sun set in the background bit by bit, the clouds transforming from a bright white to darker shades of purple and pitch black, while the sky itself shifted from pure blue to a spectrum of violet to vibrant red. Hours ago the fire down in the city had been put out out, but Cagalli didn't know much about the riot itself, besides the status reports she received every so often. Being the loving leader she was, Cagalli was deeply worried about the efforts being made to recover the city after the storm had passed, but earlier today she found that most of her worry was excessive, as the government was already well on the way to fixing everything, and Cagalli was just needed to sign a few executive orders here and there to push everything along. Still, she was quiet a bit restless, and Shinn had told her that it would have been better for her to take a break from barking commands over the phone, for the baby's sake... needless to say Cagalli agreed, reluctantly though.

'They'll be fine as it is... the security around the mansion is more than adequate at this point in time, despite what those two assholes tried to pull on me. I may be occupied but I'm not out of the game, yet.' Cagalli thought to herself, the wind blowing her beautifully short golden locks as she turned her head, hearing footsteps coming her way. "Shinn... what is it?" She asked as the footsteps drew closer, coming from somewhere else in the room, having had just entered the door.

"It's not Shinn..." A familiar voice said as the person who it belonged to crossed into the Lioness' line of sight and motioned towards another one of the chairs which was on the stone balcony, passing through the open curtains and door to do so. "What, is it wrong that a brother comes to have a talk with his sister? To inform her of information?" Kira asked as he took a seat in the chair and looked Cagalli right in the eyes, the breeze taking hold of the chocolate strands that stand on top of his hair as well.

"No... but 'inform me of information'? What information?" She asked, tilting her head as she sat with her legs crossed and stared at him.

"About the 'riot', although I'd hardly even grant that little event a title such as that, considering how pathetic it was when I was down there observing everything a while ago." Kira stated in a slightly cold tone.

"Yeah, I heard that it was little more than some of the escaped convicts throwing a fit for the sake of causing one. They lit fire to a liquor store but that was about it. I wonder what their motive was?" She asked, placing her hand on her chin.

"Well, when I got down there I asked to the man in charge... apparently they interrogated one of them and it seems that they were throwing this event simply because they could; just to cause trouble. If ORB wasn't an island then they would have tried to escape and go someplace else, from what I heard." Kira informed.

"Well I'd rather have them do that then leave and become even more dangerous. Thanks for telling me that, Kira. Hopefully they had little trouble rounding the bastards up." Cagalli responded in a happy tone as she looked out onto the horizon for about fifteen seconds and then noticed that Kira didn't move a muscle. In response she turned back to see him gazing right into her eyes. "That wasn't the only reason you came to talk to me, and in fact, if it was then you would have sent someone else..." She sighed, spreading her right fingers and placing their respective palm onto her stomach. "You're here because you want to personally talk to me about having a baby, aren't you?" She asked, looking back at him as he sunk into his chair, clearly getting comfortable.

"Yep, you guessed correctly... Cagalli..." Kira tried to say.

"If you're angry that we didn't tell you earlier or that Shinn and I didn't inform you guys before we decided it was time for him to knock me up then too bad. I'm sorry, Kira, but time has past and there's nothing we can do to fix it now, alright?" She said in a slightly hostile tone, that hostility being directed right into Kira's eyes and ears, the Ultimate Coordinator feeling every bit of it as he raised his arms a little into a somewhat defensive pose, spreading out his completely naked fingers.

"Alright... alright Cagalli... I get it. Wait... 'knock me up'? Does that mean..." He tried to say as she stomped her foot onto the concrete below them.

"NO!" She raged, sighing for a second afterwords. "Sorry, bad word choice. Kira, understand me right now... I _did not_ get pregnant by accident. Shinn is... as am I... very careful when it comes to contraception."

"Alright..." He sighed. "If that's the case then... I must ask one question... and one question that's been bugging me ever since you told us that you were pregnant. Why so soon? I mean... you're only twenty-two? I would have expected you to wait a little bit longer until you decided to have your first... I mean..." Kira tried to say as Cagalli looked at him in an expecting way, waiting for him to stop talking.

"I know full well what you're saying, brother, but at the same time there's something you need to know about me, about my past." Cagalli stated as Kira leaned forward a little in his chair.

"And what would that be?" Kira asked.

"We met when we were both around sixteen years old... so we didn't spend our childhoods together... so you don't know... about... gah..." She tried to spit out the words, but failed to do so.

"About, what? Tell me, Cagalli. It's alright..." Kira said as Cagalli snapped a little bit.

"Yes, I know it's alright!" She barked for a second, the two of them going silent a second later as she cooled down. "Sorry... hormones..." She grunted. "Anyway, during these last couple of years together you've been with and know about Cagalli Yula Attha the Desert Dawn's Goddess of Victory, Cagalli Yula Attha, restless Princess of the ORB Union and daughter of former ORB Union Chief Representative Lord Uzumi Nara Attha, Cagalli Yula Attha the mobile suit pilot, Cagalli Yula Attha the..." She went on as Kira interrupted her.

"Alright, alright!" Kira stated with urgency. "Get to the point!" He demanded, although not in an aggressive tone.

"Okay then... jackass!" She groaned. "My point is that for the first sixteen years of your life you were given a dime a dozen upbringing by middle class citizens of the ORB Union, as was Shinn. I was not. When I was a little girl I was told- constantly told like it was religious doctrine, that I would be marrying... Yuna Roma Seiran shortly after I turned eighteen." Her voice held a fragment of disgust as she stated the name of the now dead purple haired 'gentleman'. "I was also trained and brought up... being told to welcome having a child shortly after I reached adult hood. To put it simply, if my father was still alive, I would probably already have a little baby by my side, in fact, I might have one sleeping in crib and be carrying my second right now, because unlike the average person, I don't really need to worry about a super advanced education at this age... or money, especially not money." She laughed a little at the last part. At this point in time ORB had a powerful economy and most people prospered, no thanks to what had happened at the end of the last war, and to it's economic nature in general. Despite the fact that she didn't flaunt it Cagalli was easily one of the world's richest billionaires at this point in time. That, and in this day and age in the Cosmic Era, people learned their basic education at an earlier age and at a quicker rate... Cagalli even more so, having had private tutors and such when she was little. By no means was she unintelligent to say the least, when it came down to it.

"So basically what you're saying is that you were raised to pop out Yuna's babies every year, right?" Kira asked as his sister cast him an evil glare.

"Not necessarily, Kira. By no means would I be a slave to him... or Athrun... given what might have happened should the Second War never had broken out. Truth be told the core reason why I decided to get pregnant was just because I was raised and told to have one this early on... that's the main justification behind it all, that... and we would have no problems supporting him/her." She stated, looking up a little bit. The stars were starting to emerge from the night sky and show themselves.

"And so Shinn..." Kira tried to say.

"Shinn was actually a little hesitant at first, and I had to have the same talk with him as I'm having with you, Kira. After a while he decided that he wanted one too... that he truly wanted one, and believe me, I know he does, after what happened to his family, and after securing peace for himself and those who he loves." Cagalli explained as she got up and leaned on the railing overlooking Ono'goro. "Well... he may tell you that it was originally my idea but he won't tell you that he secretly wanted a child too, deep down inside, but was waiting to see if I was ready first."

"So I guess you're the driving force behind most of this, right?" Kira asked, standing up and leaning next to her.

"If he didn't want one we wouldn't be having one, lets just be as simple as that..." She said, looking down for a second. "We may act a little immature at times but I know from personal experience that my husband genuinely loves me. That's one of the reasons why we chose to get married so quickly after Shinn turned eighteen years old... that, and for the same reason why I wanted to have a baby: Because I was taught... and generally just go through some of these things quicker than other people." She said as Kira sighed, putting his left arm over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I was actually surprised at how quickly you two decided to seal the deal after Shinn become 'completely legal'. Then again I'm not the aristocrat here." Kira said as Cagalli faced him and gave him a gentle, but horizontal nod.

"I'm no true aristocrat, Kira. I'm too... Cagalli to ever be a real, true, prim and proper, snobby yet polite, money waving aristocrat. Remember I'm your biological sibling, and are you an aristocrat?" She asked as he gave no reply, realizing that it was a rhetorical question. "Didn't think so, but I was raised by them... so some of their traits and ideas did rub off, as evident by my current state." She placed her right hand on her stomach and rubbed. "I know you and Stella have yet to go beyond simply being really, really close boyfriend and girlfriend..." She smiled. "Especially when you two are all... alone." Her grin increased as Kira blushed somewhat.

"Yeah, yeah. That's not to say you and Shinn aren't equally as guilty though!" Kira replied, huffing a little after. "But no, we're not married, and I don't think we're going to ever get married, to be honest. Not that I see us going our separate ways any time soon... but in my eyes marriage just isn't something that's all... how can I say it... up to date? I mean in ORB it really on exists for tax benefits... unless of course..." Kira tried to say as Cagalli narrowed her eyes.

"You're me, and your expected to marry. Yeah, I know how you feel. You're not me, though, and you never will be. That... and I know of the condition Stella has... and how it prevents you from ever..." Cagalli said, gradually lowering the volume of her voice as she went on.

"She's an Extended... the Earth Alliance did that to her to prevent her natural hormones from interfering in her combat capabilities, especially after she hit puberty. The twisted things those bastards did... I swear... it just sickens me..." Kira grunted angrily, clenching his right fist.

'Yes... I know. Stella's sterile. You'll probably never be able to have a child with her Kira... I'm surprised though... you don't seem to be jealous of Shinn and I because of that... why...' Cagalli thought to herself.

"That being said I don't foresee myself ever having kids in the near future, so right now it's... not the greatest concern." Kira stated, answering Cagalli's question even though she never verbally asked it, demonstrating just how close the two Hibiki twins were despite not even using their telepathic SEED powers.

"What? Why?" She asked in a surprised tone as he faced the sunset and she looked at his left side, his head higher than hers as both of their hairs were caught in the wind.

"Well for one thing I spend around ninety percent of my time on the Minerva in space with the rest of the PEACE Force... and two... I'm more a soldier now more than anything else. I fight to protect that which I love the most... and I fight well... these last couple of years have proven that to me... when I was a student in Heliopolis I had my life ahead of me but I never decided on what I wanted to do with it... and now I have somewhat of an idea, despite how much it contradicts my own peace loving and conflict hating nature somewhat..." Kira answered, chuckling a little as he did. "Funny, isn't it? The future is such a mystery. One day I'm just an average Joe, the next I'm one of the greatest soldiers of this time..."

"And you discover a sister who loves you..." Cagalli said as she motioned closer to him, the chill of the night now starting to set in as the wind whistled in the background.

"Yeah, and I'm thankful for that... I may not be a father anytime soon but I'll settle for the role of uncle... I can assure you of that right now, Cagalli..." Kira said as twisted his torso to the left and placed his right hand above Cagalli's, that was on her stomach. "Keep the little one warm so that they can grow up to be strong like their father and proud like their mother... let's go back inside soon..." He suggested as his sister nodded somewhat.

"Five more minutes, we don't see each other THAT often anymore and I'd like to enjoy these last few moments of sunset with you, alright?" She asked.

"Alright... deal then..."

"Thanks, Kira..." The Lioness purred, the twins looking out into the distance as the ORB sun set slowly in the distance...

* * *

In an unknown location at an unknown time...

Inside what appeared to be a large, windowless office sat two human beings in chairs and one feline in the yellow fabric lap of one of the humans, the person in question petting the fluffy black cat softly as he sat across from his green haired friend, an oak desk with what appeared to be a military grade laptop between them.

"It's been a while since we met here... yes... a... a long while indeed." Edir Arak stuttered as he conversed with Lord Djibril.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures. Then again... this could not be a better location for what is going to transpire soon... mwhahaha... ouch! Paladin!" Djibril groaned as his cat bit his right pinkie.

"Meow?"

"I just have to ask you this one simple question... how did you do it? I mean... how did our organization manage to survive after what Durandal did to us? A... after Durandal figured me out... and after he unveiled our group to the world, I thought it was all over... yet... here you are... living, breathing... plotting all this time." Edir stated crisply, his speech stuttering somewhat as he did, probably as a result of his cowardly personality and his experience in Seamis.

"Oh yes... that was quite the shocker wasn't it? When Durandal declared 'war' against Logos... yes, he had us by our ears then... well, most of us." Djibril stated, pausing for a second. "You see, Durandal had a list of many of our members, but not all of them... that, and combined with my own ingenious and intelligence, is how our organization still lives on today. Although the bait I used in the process helped as well..." He smiled, remembering the poor, immature and most importantly, now dead fool that was Yuna Roma Seiran.

"So... because of the severity of Emiron I was allowed to break out of Seamis and then your men picked me up when they hacked into Morganroate's database during the night when all of the ORB Union was deeply tucked into their shelters waiting for the storm to blow over... the question is... did you save me out of pity... or..." Edir tried to say as Djibril cracked a crude smirk, pressing a few buttons on his laptop and turning it to face the former CEO of the Integrated Design Bureau.

"We need you to go out into space and make the final adjustments to this... I can assure you that all of the materials and supplies you would need to produce it will be there... trust me. Can you do this, old friend?" Djibril asked as Edir stared at the screen, which was showing what appeared to be blueprints and specifications of a mobile suit... a very familiar mobile suit. At first glance this machine resembled the Destroy gundam deployed by the Earth Alliance in Eurasia, Heaven's Base, and Daedalus, but with one major and very visible change that could be seen despite the picture being crude green line art on a black background. The change was to the backpack of the machine, which no longer featured the large beam cannons and was also no longer circular shaped. Instead it seemed to resemble an eight sided star, but there were several thermal energy plasma beam cannons mounted on it still.

"My god... this thing is..." Edir stated, his eyes and mouth wide open in awe, his aqua blue eyes glazed over as if he was a thirteen year old staring at the box art of the latest third person shooter released by a popular and successful video game manufacturer. Box art showing an image of a half naked blonde trophy with an assault rifle in hand, an explosion taking place behind her as she looked up into the sky and grinned in a sexy fashion. "Five hundred, eighty three point seven three metric tons and over a hundred meters tall in mobile suit mode... this thing..."

"Impressed? Yes, the GFAS-X2 Annihilon... the next generation of the Destroy gundam... with a built in SEEDpathy system that I want you to go out and make the final adjustments for..." Djibril smiled crudely.

"I accept... this thing... nothing can stand in our way if we deploy it... nothing... nothing can stand in our way..." Edir clenched his fists and spontaneously stood up. "When do I leave?" He asked in a serious tone.

"Patience, Edir... we must first find out if our main pilot is a willing participant... hmmmhahaha..." Djibril laughed as he took his right hand off of Paladin and used it to pick up a phone on his right, dialing a number before placing it close to his ear, waiting a couple second before receiving a message. "Yes... is the subject ready? Just managed to figure out his memories? WELL WHY AM I PHONING YOU? Be there in five. Ciao." Djibril stated, pausing between his sentences before placing the phone back down. "Let's go. I'm a top notch host and so you have to understand that it would not be proper of me to keep my... err... second most important guest waiting for too long." Djibril stated, pushing his cat off of his body and standing upwards as Edir nodded.

"Of course..." Edir responded, following suit in a calm fashion.

"Meow!"

* * *

In an empty blackness he sits... alone... cold... with no one to comfort him. His body floats in the air gracefully, drifting in the everlasting darkness. His eyes shut smoothly, and his mouth sealed air tight. Suddenly though, it happened. The sound of a dying women echoed throughout the black expanse, her wail projecting to all of it's non-existent corners. His eyes twitch, still closed, but disturbed. Then it happened again... the sound of air rushing at a quick pace, it's unmistakable 'woosh' reflecting it's speed... as if to say it was air being sucked out of a colony into a vacuum.

"Err... grr..." He grunted in his slumber... his eyelids still disturbed but shut as his head twisted somewhat, the long blue locks of hair on his forehead bouncing around a little. Then, once more it happened, but once again, it was different. This time it was the sound of a missile flying through the air, even though it was in space, and then suddenly a loud crashing and booming explosion went off, as if to say that this projectile had impacted an object, and made a detonation that roared so greatly it had to be a nuclear missile. "No... ugh..." He grunted, speaking for a second as his lips cracked open for just a second.

"_Fire GENESIS... we... must... make the world... ours..." _

"Father... no..." He cried in his sleep.

"_This is no longer a war. It is a campaign of extermination!" _

"Stop... you can't..."

"_Of course it will! When the very last natural is dead, this war will end!" _

"Father... no... stop... you can't... this isn't right..."

"_You used to tell me that you hatred the whole idea of war!" _

"What? Kira... is that..." He continued to turn and tumble in his sleep, fighting to awake yet unable to do so, his mind trapped in the blackness.

"_One guy takes a life for vengeance and then someone gets revenge by taking his life. How is that kind of twisted thinking ever going to bring us peace?"_

"Cagalli... you too?" He mumbled.

"_Athrun Zala, soldier of Zaft!" _

"Lacus... is that you there?"

"_Yes... It's a valuable gift, from a valuable friend." _

"Kira... you again? Speak up? Where are you all?" He screamed out into the lone darkness, unable to see but completely subjected to torture by his ability to hear.

"_Athrun..." _

The last voice echoed with a particular tune throughout his mind. It was the one that, above all else, he had not heard in a very long time. It was the voice a women... a very special women who all children address with the same name when they speak to her.

"_Athrun, open your eyes..." _

"Who is it? Who's there?"

"_What... you don't recognize me?" _

"Wait... you're..."

"_Athrun, I'm your..." _

She tried to say.

"Mother..."

"_Mother..."_

They spoke in a completely synchronized unison, the eyelids of the Red Knight slowly breaking their seal and opening up wide, bright verdant green eyes staring into the blackness... except it wasn't blackness anymore... No, as the blue haired man managed to 'move' his body so that it was standing up straight he saw, flashing before him... memories. Memories of his childhood... memories of his teenage years... with his friends... with his family, but in general, memories... before the Junius Seven accident.

"Mother... where are you?" He asked, looking into the expanse of his mind, staring at an image of himself when he was just an infant, his blue hair short but dark as he grabbed a large chunk of vanilla birthday cake, a younger Patrick and Lenore Zala by his side, smiling with him as he giggled like a baby. "What is this? Where am I? TELL ME!" He yelled out into the distance before shifting his head to the right, looking at himself as he played with a certain brunette, the two of them no older than five years old at the time as they ran through the fields.

"_Dear boy... Athrun... my beloved son." The voice spoke, a flash of blinding light appearing in front of Athrun as he used his left hand to shield his eyes for the sake of his retinas not burning out as the light grew more intense, and then suddenly vanished._

"Mother..." He said softly... looking upon what was left: Lenore Zala. "Mother... why am I here?" Athrun asked.

"_Athrun, you are here because you have a Destiny to fulfill. There is a task that must be performed, and only you have the skills and ability; the power, to perform it." _

"What? What task? What are you talking about?" Athrun asked as his mother walked forward and looked at him, her eyes about to cry as she stared into the twenty one year old pupils of her son.

"_Oh... dear boy... I'm so sorry that I left you... look at you... you're all grown up now! It's... a mothers dream to see their child reach the stage of fruition... and her nightmare to see them leave the nest." She said, reaching forward and trying to grasp onto his blemish less left cheek with his right hand, causing him to move back in reaction._

"You're not real." He stated coldly, much to her surprise. "My mother died many years ago... what is this...?" He asked the women standing in front of him narrowing his eyes angrily.

"_Athrun!" She yelled. "How... can you... state that..." _

"Because it's true..." He replied as a tear slid down her face. "Crying won't do you good either." He added as she turned away from him and placed her now hardened left fist under her chin. "Lenore Zala died... February 14th, Cosmic Era 70... yes... I remember it well... like it was yesterday." He said as the memories surrounding the two of them shifted so that they all displayed the same thing: Junius Seven being annihilated by a nuclear missile... and a young Athrun Zala just standing there by himself, watching in awe and in shock, unable to do anything. "That day changed everything... forever." He turned to face her. "So tell me... who are you?"

"_I am that which is dead; I am Lenore Zala, your mother..." He shook his head. "What, you don't believe in the supernatural? Of those who exist beyond the grave? Then again your father always tried to bring you up as a harsh skeptic..." _

"So what, that doesn't prove anything!" Athrun roared, still angry at the person who both resembled his mother in looks and speech and who was also standing right in front of him to boot.

"_Dear boy... you're so cold these days... why?" She shook her head, clearly unimpressed._

"Why are you pretending to be my mother?" Athrun clenched his fists and asked, leaning forward in an aggressive pose. "WHY?"

"_I'm not so much as pretending... more or so that I am... please... Athrun... just give me a little... faith..."_ _Lenore said as she started to float around, rotating to Athrun's left and coming around, trying to get behind him as he looked at her, but at the same time, something else caught his attention. A million little sparks of light all began to shine directly at the Red Knight from every direction, causing him to grunt somewhat as he looked at their source... a Zaft FAITH badge, the very one Athrun had received... sitting in the same box that he had first found it in when Gilbert Durandal presented it to him. _

"What does Durandal have to do with all this? Why are you showing me this stuff?" Athrun asked as Lenore began to circle him gently, drifting around his standing body, a smile on her face as she stared at her son.

"_The Destiny Plan... that which you fought for last war... remember it?" She asked in an inquisitive voice. _

"How could I... possibly forget? We failed to win the decisive battle to end the war in our favor and because of that it was never implemented. Yes, the world may be at a calm peace now but..." Athrun tried to continue but found himself cut off.

"_In time... the peace will be shattered... yes. That is an absolute fact, given the nature of this world, my son." _

"And I'll be powerless to stop it..." Athrun grunted with anger. "... given my current state..."

"_Yes... and it is all thanks to these people..." Lenore said as images of Kira Yamato, Cagalli Yula Attha, Shinn Asuka and Talia Gladys began to be displayed in front of Athrun._

"Kira... Cagalli... they were misguided from the start... they never understood the consequences of their actions... they decided to act like total hypocrites and then played as if they were on a moral high ground about sheltering that godforsaken bastard Lord Djibril even after he killed millions of innocents with the Requiem... because he was a petty and pathetic racist." Athrun explained with great, sour contempt.

"_Misguided? I think not. They were strident and truth with their selfish path from the very start, my beloved Athrun. They knew what they were doing was wrong... they knew what they were doing would lead to deaths in the millions... yet they continued on that path... all because of..." Lenore stated as another voice took over for a second, an image of Zaft's greatest Supreme Council Chairman appearing. _

"_Ignorance and selfish ambition!" Durandal clearly stated for all to hear._

"Ignorance and selfish ambition? What? No! Kira... Cagalli..."

"_Yes, very much so, Athrun. Ignorance? The very notion that we should reject the Destiny Plan for the sake of preserving the status quo is in fact a statement of ignorance beyond all reasonable measure. Selfish ambition? Look at the Treaty of Messiah! They destroyed your machine... the Crusader, a work of art, when it could be repaired, and allowed themselves to hold sovereignty over their own heavily damaged, disgusting mobile suits... they forced the rest of the world nations to share mobile suit technology, but let themselves hold onto what they already had... oh, they are full of those things... ignorance and selfish ambition... Athrun... my son... my child..." Lenore added, looking Athrun directly in the eyes as she circled around in front of him. "And then when you came to take Djibril away, when you tried to rid the world of an evil like that... they refused, because of their 'principles' and because the cost to them was 'too high', but what happened then, hmm? Djibril escaped... and how many people managed to die in the process? Millions as a result..." Lenore went on._

"Yes..." Athrun put his right hand on his chin. "I remember very well... it was then... that I decided... I decided that because of the wrongs they had done in the war thus far... and how I stood against them... that I was... Justice... Justice Incarnate..."

"_You are... Justice Incarnate, Athrun. The ability to judge right from wrong lies with you and you alone... I know... I you were born and nurtured to be someone who could do something like that... it was your destiny... after all... now tell me... with that in mind... these people... are they good people?" Lenore asked to Athrun's great shock, as the memories around him suddenly shifted to show images of Talia, Kira, Cagalli and Shinn... their voices playing all around him._

_"Athrun... leave the room..." Echoed from Kira; echoing from the time when the Red Knight, Ultimate Coordinator, and Lioness had a 'chat' on board the Archangel before the operation to shatter Junius Seven._

_"Chose your next action wisely, Athrun PATRICK-LENORE Zala. You may either put that ring on my finger, or you can go see the Chairman and fulfill your desire to 'clear your family's name', but you MAY NOT do both. Stay with me right now... or we're finished! That's the end of it! That's my ultimatum!" Echoed from Cagalli, from when the two of them broke their ties._

_"Don't. Come. Back." Kira spoke harshly_

_"I am going to take the liberty of clearing you of your ignorance right now, Athrun Zala, although I apologize for not informing you right on the battlefield..." Talia Gladys stated._

_"Says the guy who defected from Zaft to ORB, and then changed sides again. Clearly you don't care about things that legally bind people! So how dare you say they don't have the right to do that when you blatantly have never given a damn what side you're on and from what I can tell are only on any side just to further your own agenda!" Shinn yelled. _

_"Listen, Athrun. For some reason you fail to understand this simple concept: The Minerva is my warship. Not yours." Talia attempted to make clear. _

_"Athrun, I am not going to let you, or Durandal, walk into ORB and do as you please... you'll have to go through me DIRECTLY beforehand! We will put up a fight!" Cagalli warned in a serious tone._

_"Athrun, listen. I've had enough of this. Throughout this war you've caused me, and Cagalli, nothing but trouble!******Nothing! **And I've had enough of it!" A SEED mode Kira warned a SEED mode Athrun as the Veneficus single handedly, and without breaking much of a sweat pilot wise, submitted the Crusader._

_"Athrun Zala, you are a fool and a thug!" __Shinn insulted, only to have that line be followed up by an even louder insult. "_**__****I WILL END YOUR WORTHLESS AND PATHETICALLY SAD EXCUSE OF A LIFE HERE AND NOW!**_" Roared the Ace of Aces with great raging fury._

"Worthless..." Athrun said lightly, tilting his head downwards as Lenore bent downwards and looked him in the eyes.

"_But you are not worthless... my great son... if anything... they are... for what they've done... for the sins they've committed in the name of their own pride and prejudice." Lenore explained._

"They should be punished... but who should punish them...?" Athrun asked, clearly lost in his own personal state of utter melancholy as he looked at the palms and back of his hands, staring at them as another memory played, two in fact. The first was of the Strike Noir taking down the Savior, with Kira shooting Athrun's optics and then capitalizing on the red machine's blindness to defeat it, and the second was the one of the Judicator brutally thrusting it's right foot forward into the Crusader's chest, slamming into it with the momentum of one hundred charging angry rhinos and sending Athrun down to the Moon's surface... the Red Knight's back beginning to ache somewhat as that memory finished playing.

"_You..."_

"Me? I... I can't..." Athrun shook his head in disbelief as Lenore grabbed both of his hands and put them on his cheeks before gazing into his eyes kindly, her eyes sincere... just as a mother's would be.

"_Yes you can... everything's possible... if you believe in yourself... and you know your cause is a righteous one... do you believe in yourself, Athrun?"_

"I... I... I..." Athrun tried to say as another memory flashed, this one of his heroic efforts to stop the nuclear missiles from hitting the PLANTs the second time the Earth Alliance had tried to destroy them... Athrun sacrificing the Savior to destroy one last missile, and living to tell the tale, that memory giving him strength. "Yes... I believe... in myself..."

"_Is your cause... to purge the world of these fiends... a righteous one...?" Lenore asked as two final memories played, one of Junius Seven getting hit by a nuclear missile, and one of watching many more PLANTs be shattered and destroyed, their populace reduced to nothing more than still, lifeless corpses as the space colonies were turned to cosmic rubble. _

"It... it is..." Athrun stood up straight, his pose one filled with absolute confidence as he made a tight fist with his right hand and lifted it upwards, a look of utter determination on his face as he stared into that which was in front of him, his mother standing up at the same time. "Yes, my cause is righteous... **mother**... I'll take revenge for all those who died because of their ignorance." Athrun stated with pride as Lenore Zala smiled, the entire area seeming to fade away in a matter of seconds, with Athrun disappearing along with it.

* * *

"So... that's how..." Edir asked as he and Lord Djibril stood in what appeared to be a chamber much like the one where Sting, Stella, and Auel stayed in while they were having their memories adjusted.

"Somewhat... like the process used for the Extendeds, yes..." Djibril grinned with great pride, a villainous smile on his face just below his aristocratic nose.

"So... with all that in mind...does that mean we can get to work?" Edir asked as he looked onto one of the beds where Athrun lay in his civilian clothes, sleeping like a baby, scientists working frantically on nearby machines, two other figures in the adjacent beds.

"He's ours... you'll be going into space soon, Edir... to make the final preparations. The farce known as PEACE won't know what hit them... and while they're dealing with him..._ she'll _pay the price for her arrogance." Djibril explained, breaking out into a maniacal laughter seconds later, his voice audible throughout the entire room by everyone there.

* * *

Ono'goro Island, July 10th of CE 77, 4:00 P.M.

The sky is dull and filled with light gray clouds lazily floating above the island nation, which was currently trying to repair the damage that had been done to it, the people involved in the disaster relief and reconstruction efforts working at their very best as time went on. The flood waters had now completely retreated from the effected areas however people were cringing sadly as they looked up to the sky and noticed the gray sky, hoping that it would not rain on the job. At the same time the Minerva was currently situated in dock, with the final preparations being made for the ship to head back up into space and rejoin the rest of the PEACE fleet after the necessary checkups had been made to her and the engineers found her fit for flight. That was the second reason why Shinn and Cagalli took the Minerva back to ORB after leaving Messiah, because the ship needed to head back and have an inspection done on it due to regulations, and that inspection took longer than usual because more efforts were focused on cleaning up Emiron.

Prince Consort Shinn Urun Attha and Prince Kira Yamato were currently on the dock and making their way towards the platform that lead into the ship, both of them in uniform, and both of them discussing things to themselves.

"So you and Cagalli are leaving in about an hour for Chongqing, correct?" Kira his friend about the location of the so-called 'Summit' that most of the world leaders would be taking part in, his voice being heard over the clatter of footsteps the two were making on the ground as well as the occasional order which was being yelled by the port crew as the time when the ship would leave grew ever so closer.

"Uh... half an hour actually, Kira. We'll be arriving sometime this night and will be taking our stay there for a bit. Thing starts at around twelve noon there so we'll feel it's a bit later in the day." Shinn responded in a normal voice as the two of them reached the top of the platform that traversed over to the Minerva's bridge tower entrance. "I guess I'll be leaving you off right here though, good luck in space, although you probably won't have much to worry about, knowing you." Shinn stated, smiling as he did.

"Meh, every blue moon we might encounter space pirates and soundly deal with them, but for the most part it's pretty boring up there... doesn't mean I've got things to do that can blow time." Kira responded.

"Like Stella..." Shinn smirked as Kira blushed.

"Oh be quiet!" He responded in a joking tone as Shinn began to walk away, but was stopped by Kira placing his right hand on the red eyed man's left shoulder. "Shinn..."

"Huh?" Shinn turned around and looked at Kira, wondering what he was talking about.

"Remember how Cagalli told me that Morganroate's database was supposedly acting up and asked me to see what exactly happened to it in the storm... if a massive bolt of lightning outright fried to circuit breakers and messed up some stuff or if something else had happened?" Kira asked, his tone a little more serious now as Shinn adjusted himself to compensate.

"Uh huh, I'm listening, Kira." The Ace of Aces responded as Kira lowered his volume to a whisper.

"Truth be told I don't know what happened. Could have been a massive power surge due to Emiron in that district... which is likely considering the state of some of technology belonging to Morganroate and the military... or it could have been something else... I'm not sure..." Kira stated, bringing his head close to Shinn's and whispering in his ear.

"So you're saying that someone 'could' have, with a great deal of skill and dexterity, broken in that night and accessed it... by Haumae... damn..." Shinn shook his head in a bit of shock.

"Not necessarily... but... I would just keep a wider eye out when your at the Summit with Cagalli... look out for anything... out of the ordinary... just a feeling... either way Cagalli will probably want a larger and full scale investigation to go on when she gets back... I didn't want to burden her with more uncertainty in a time like this." Kira whispered.

"Alright, I get it. But 'out of the ordinary'? Keh, that's so vague, Kira..." Shinn responded in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Just... keep an eye out anyway... you already act somewhat as her bodyguard but still..." Kira broke away and stood at a normal distance away from Shinn.

"Well if you're worried then I 'guess' I'll take your word for it, Kira." Shinn responded, letting off a very slight smile as he did.

"Alright then, that's good. Keep Cagalli safe." Kira said back as a port-wide intercom went online.

"All crew members of the LHM-BB01 Minerva are to board the ship immediately. She vessel is about to take off. I repeat, all crew members of the Minerva are to board the ship immediately." The feminine voice ordered.

"I will, Kira. Good luck in space." Shinn responded, turning around and waving as Kira waved back before walking onto the bridge that would take him to the ship.

* * *

Attha Private Jet, two hours later:

The young Lady of the ORB Union was laying down alone on a large bed inside the room, the mattress covered in ivory white sheets and blankets and pillows wrapped inside light green pillow cases. There were windows on either side of the room and two doors placed on the front wall, with one of them leading to a bathroom and the other going outside the private cabin towards the other seats. At the same time the bed wasn't the only piece of furniture in the room, there was also a somewhat large television mounted on the wall in the front right corner of the room as well as a wooden computer desk with a single office chair placed in the left corner, a laptop sitting on top of it.

As Cagalli laid in the bed on her back she placed her right backhand on top of her head and looked up, her left arm extended out and leaning against the backboard of the bed as her legs remained held together and tilted somewhat towards her left. Suddenly though one of the doors opened and Shinn walked into the room from the main seating cabin, the sounds of conversing bodyguards behind him as he closed and locked the door, and slowly made his way to the bed, jumping a little onto it and crashing down onto the blanket to Cagalli's left, the top of his black haired head aligned with the top of her abdomen as it adorned it's ORB Chief Representative's Uniform.

"Shinn?" She asked as he inched himself closer to her and then arched his left arm over her body and pulled his head in closer so that it was next to her belly. "Oh, would you stop it?" She asked, clearly annoyed. Ever since that they had found out that Cagalli's pregnancy test was in fact positive Shinn usually made some sort of move in bed to play with Cagalli's stomach, whether it was rubbing it, or just placing his head next to it, like this. "How are the pilots doing? And how long till we get there?" Cagalli asked.

"Soon... I didn't ask." Shinn replied softly, simply letting out an answer as if he didn't care much about it, his body adjusting around and messing up the blankets as he made himself comfortable.

"Hmm..." She smiled, looking down onto him. "What do you think it is? I'm hoping it's a boy." Cagalli stated.

"No, it'll be a girl. I want a little baby girl." Shinn replied softly and in a monotone voice as Cagalli sighed a little.

"Why's that? I think you'd want a boy... a small little black haired Shinn to be a dad to, eh? So you can play ball do all that other father-son stuff..." Cagalli said, reaching with her right arm over to the end table and grabbing what appeared to be a filled water bottle.

"I think a little Cagalli would be better. I think it might be a lot more enjoyable if I go through the process of raising a little brat... if it's a girl, and knowing us it'll probably be an evil little tyke..." Shinn tiled his head up to his wife and smiled as she returned the favor.

"Wouldn't doubt it. Still, I think I want a boy more. You know I bloody hate dresses with a passion and having a little girl who might want to play dress up with them would piss me off..." Cagalli explained, yawning as she did.

"Tired?"

"Uh huh."

"Expected... we'll get something to eat as soon as we land in Chongqing, alright? You'll need it before you go to bed."

"I know... damn this little one is sapping me dry already and it's only been a little over two months... I'm exhausted half the time..." Cagalli said, her voice becoming a little weaker as she did, taking a swig from the water bottle a few seconds later.

"It's because you're carrying a coordinator child... well that's one reason. Still, I don't think we've seen anything yet. Apparently they get 'hungrier' later on as they grow."

"Yeah... I'm prepared for the worst... hehe..."

"That's why you randomly started to fly around when we were heading back to the Minerva the other day, right?" Shinn said, smiling in a joking tone. "Caused me a lot of trouble, and Stella a big headache." He informed as she remained quiet and adjusted her pillow. "It's okay though... Stella got over it and I found that little experience to be kind of fun, considering we're both going to be grounded for a long while, especially you."

"That's one thing I didn't like about this... probably the only thing. I'm not going to be able to use my machine... meh it's still for the better. Some asshole's probably going to try to bring up the method of travel we used from Daedalus the other day as an actual argument against me..."

"I hear you. Just a dirt flinging tactic. Whatever, if they can't accept the fact that the Lioness of ORB is an Ace on a mobile suit then screw them." Shinn replied in a somewhat bitter tone.

"If I'm the Lioness then what are you? What's our baby?" Cagalli raised a question inquisitively.

"I'm still the 'Ace of Aces'... has a nice ring to it... I guess our baby will be the 'Ferocious Cub of ORB' then... considering we don't know it's gender yet and won't for a little bit." Shinn replied as Cagalli laughed at the title, her husband chuckling along a second later.

"Ferocious Cub... I love it. Still, the doctor will be happy to see us when I get my next check up, if he's the same as he was last time." She said as Shinn burst out laughing.

"Oh... oh... hahaha... yeah you got that right Cagalli. I remember when we told him the pregnancy test was positive and he almost died right there and then... and once he calmed down he began to just absolutely load us up with all this information on..."

"Dieting... exercise... sleeping habits... vitamins... the whole bloody nine yards. If someone managed to take a picture of the look on our faces while he was flooding our minds with all that information they would make a killing selling it to a magazine. I mean we both knew beforehand that having a baby would require a lot of changes but he just went overboard... that was nice though..." Cagalli added, giving off another yawn, Shinn doing the same seconds later. "I'm tired..."

"Then go to sleep... duh..." Shinn stated, giving off a little huff as he did.

"Stop breathing on my belly and I will! It's slightly distracting."

"Fine then!" Shinn pulled himself up to Cagalli's level. "There... happy?" He asked in an annoyed yet happy tone, trying to mess with her as she simply smiled and closed her eyes. A great sense of joy filled Shinn's face as he tried to rest with her... no, he wasn't really tired... after all, he wasn't the natural carrying a taxing coordinator child.

He couldn't help take his eyes off of her... she was, in reality, all that he had now... and it was more than enough to make him incredibly happy. Oh, how lost he had been after the first war, when everything that he had in his life... all the happiness... all the joy... was taken away in the blink of an eye and replaced with utter sorrow... despair... and loathing hatred. Then she came along... how he had hatred her with a deep passion early on... yet despite this... and despite his actions against her, she seemed to see some good deep inside of him, and even if she didn't realize it at first, worked toward bringing it out. She was a stubborn girl, thrown into the throne at an early age and dogmatically attached to her father's ideology at first. Although as time went on and the two of them got closer, and encountered each other more often, they seemed to cancel out each others hatred and make one another see other things that they had never seen before... Shinn abandoned his hatred and Cagalli learned to do what she thought was best for ORB, not to just simply obey what her now deceased father had told her to do. Yes, she rid him of his madness and for that he grew affectionate of her, after all whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger... she made him stronger as a person... although he didn't realize it at first, and thank Haumae he had SEED mode telepathy powers or she might have rejected him. It wasn't until the Seirans, or more specifically, Yuna, tried to make Cagalli marry him again that Shinn was forced into her romantic spotlight by Kira... and when he did run at her and scream 'I think I love you' he did it in such an idiotic and laughable way it wasn't even funny. Still, he had managed to convey her feelings to her, not by really by speech but by thought and from that point on they realized that deep down inside they would be good together and with each other; that they had both originally clashed together as two opposing forces that fell for each other on the battlefield.

Despite the fact that Cagalli had been the one to originally bring up the topic of having a child Shinn did really want one too. The thought of rebuilding his family, now reborn as a new and greater person with his mate... with the person who he loved and cared for the most, was something that he greatly desired and deep down would not deny once it was brought up. With that he began to doze off by her side. Mother, father, and soon to be child all together as the jet continued to race over the Pacific Ocean toward the Republic of East Asia.

* * *

Author's Note:

Alright so this chapter did have some fluff at the end and that might have been annoying... whatever. What I'll say right now is that we had a lot of things going on and from what I gather this fic might be at it's half way point... or maybe over it a bit. In the next couple of chapters we'll start to see some real action taking place... and you can already guess what one of these 'real action' battles is going to be... however the battle against the Annihilon isn't going to be the only battle of this fic... we're also going to see some more interesting battles too. Just watch and see. There's also some other things I'll tell you about concerning my works. (Don't just respond to this in a review... look at the chapters and remember what I posted at the start xD)

1) I hope to fully plan out Plot B and get the first Phase underway soon. As to when it'll come out I'm unaware.

2) This weekend I'll be messing around with my Judicator sketch on Inkscape. I plan to trace over the drawing, transfer the digital sketch and then fill it in, although I'll probably post a line art sketch first. If anyone has any hints or advise on how to use Inkscape then by all means say so.

3) To some this may be a drag and to others you may like it but I'm thinking of starting an AU fic... not a rewrite fic but a truly AU fic (Like a highschool fic... but it's not highschool based, trust me). I'm doing this because I need some other... idea to refresh me, because I'm getting slightly burnt by the 'dark mecha gundam' stuff at this point... by no means am I stopping my works for Humanity's Fate, but I want to make some other stuff too (It's also CE Universe characters fyi) so watch the updates for something coming out under my name, alright.

~ExArchmagus


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